Citizen of Two Worlds
by Connor the speling pro
Summary: Claude Riegan is a normal high schooler in Iowa. But when dark magic taints his Falchion charm, he gains the ability to travel to a fantasy world called "Fódlan." This strange land may be on the brink of a war that Claude has no idea how to stop. And on top of this, he begins to suspect that someone is stalking him between worlds...
1. Prologue: An Inevitable Encounter

I know my shift is getting late when I'm not even fazed by a pale-faced man with no irises or pupils walking into the McDonald's. He wears a set of full black armor with a ring of feathers around and the back of his neck that makes his outfit look like a Russian fur coat at first glance. He has white hair but doesn't look old.

He walks up to the counter and stares at my nametag for multiple seconds. I glance back in the direction of my manager, but she won't want to deal with this guy even more than I do. The funny part is that this isn't nearly the weirdest someone's behaved around me.

At McDonald's you get a lot of parents with whiny kids, which is fine. Kids are supposed to be little gremlins (or am I trying to justify my own behavior as a child? Hmm), and I try to chat up the bloodshot-eyed parents about how stressful it is to juggle so many tasks in life. It sometimes gets a smile. What bugs me about those situations is that there's _always _a Boomer lurking in the background ready to complain to me about how terrible those parents are.

Blegh, I'm starting to sound like my mother. In terms of _weird _weird stories, there was this girl who insisted to me that her boyfriend killed a bunch of people in Iraq and that they watch the tapes together every night. Did she say that because I'm brown? I'm not sure.

By the time I'm done running all the memories through my mind, this guy is still staring at my nametag. Eventually, the right corner of his mouth twitches up to form a smirk.

"Claude," he says.

"This is a McDonald's, sir," I say. "Are you going to order anything?"

"No, no. That's quite all right. I only came here to see you."

Um. Did I mention I've never seen this guy in my life?

"If you aren't going to purchase anything, then may I kindly request that you leave?" I say.

I bite my lip to keep myself from adding _"And drop the cosplay next time." _

His gaze switches to the necklace Lucina gave me with the mini-Falchion charm hanging from it. He reaches out towards it, and I lean back.

"Oh, no need to be a poor sport," he says. "But since you insist, I won't torment you any longer."

The guy scuttles away, and when he turns around I can see that he's wearing a cloak that billows once he exits the door. He lingers around the entrance for a minute or so before disappearing.

Yeesh. I wonder what he did to make his eyes look like that. Some kind of advanced contact lenses? But the fact that the pupils weren't visible to me means that no visible light was passing through whatever was over his eyes, so he shouldn't be able to see anything. How could he read my nametag?

I report the incident to my manager, leaving out the part about the eyes. She acts sympathetic, but she doesn't offer me a ride home and I don't push it. If my parents get wind of me being spooked by some random stranger, they'll be laughing about it for years. Separately, of course, in their own dwellings 3000 miles apart from each other.

After the store closes, I clean up more quickly than usual and put on my rain jacket over my worker's uniform. I knew it was going to rain less here in the Midwest than in the Pacific Northwest where I lived my whole life, but after being here for a summer the dryness is starting to wear on me. I even miss the grey, starless skies of Seattle.

Still, the jacket does a good job of making me not recognizable as "that guy from McDonald's" to any no-pupil freaks in black armor who happen to be wandering around the streets of Middle-the-fuck-nowhere, Iowa. I hop on my bike, pop in my earbuds, and hum to my music on the way back.

I trash the town of Middle-of-fuck-nowhere quite frequently, at least in my head, but thanks to the boarding schools in the area there is some semblance of "downtown," which means my mom could get me an apartment nearby basic outlets such as a grocery store, a shopping mall, and a McDonald's to work at. The bike ride is about ten minutes, which isn't bad at all on a summer night. The stars fill the sky like a swimming pool of marbles, still distant and unfamiliar to a city kid like me.

I'm pedaling while listening to my beats one second, and the next I'm flying through the air. The instincts honed by my parents' training takes over, and I roll to a standing position without thinking about it. I glance around for any sign of danger before relaxing my shoulders and going back over to my bike.

Why did it buck me off in the middle of the street? I check my wheels, and they both appear normal.

Wisps of darkness flicker in the upper periphery of my vision.

I look up to see the no-pupil freak from before, a ball of shadowy matter floating between his hands. In that moment, I do the one thing I thought my parents beat out of me years ago.

I freeze.

The dude fires the darkness ball at me, and it slams into me right below my collarbone. My vision blinds with pain, and I feel myself flying back. I wait for the sensation of impact, but it doesn't come.

#

I awake in a forest.

Danger senses activate first. I hop to my feet and scan the area for signs of the creep. Nothing in the underbrush moves, but I do hear sounds of metal ringing on metal in the distance. It reminds me of the set for a medieval fantasy movie. Like, you know, Boromir rushing in to save the Hobbits from orcs in Lord of the Rings? It was close enough to feel like déjà vu.

Good thing my mom taught me how to travel through forests without making sound. I slink my way through the trees towards the sounds of fighting. Probably stupid, but you know how the saying goes. Curiosity is an evolutionary advantage for the cat due to the benefits of foraging outweighing the risk on average. That's what everyone says, right?

When the sounds draw close and I peek through the foliage, I see a group of bandits fighting a pair of young nobles in fancy clothes and two more standard warriors. I'm going to call the latter two mercenaries until proven otherwise. One of the mercs is a man on horseback old enough that I'm not sure he should be on the battlefield, while the other is a younger woman with a dead look in her eyes to match her blade. Still older than both of the nobles, though. A guy with blond hair is using a lance on foot to ward off one of the bandits, and the other is a girl with white hair like Mr. creepface who uses a battleaxe. I see her swing at one of the bandits, miss, and curse to herself.

"Claude." Lance boy looks back at me. "Where have you been? Help us instead of standing there gawking."

Gawking? I approach the battlefield, keeping my eyes on the bandits. The older horseback merc rides past me and spears one of them before leading his horse back.

"Hey kid. You know how to use that bow or not?"

Bow? I look first at my hands, which are empty, and then feel around my back. Yep, there's definitely a bow and quiver. But it's… super strange. It's not big enough to be a longbow, but isn't a recurve bow that gets extra tension to make up for the smaller frame. I guess it's like a d&d shortbow. You know, one of those weapons that nobody would actually use in real life.

It's a moot point because I never learned how to use a bow. And why would I? When I was eight my parents taught me how to use a handgun. When I was twelve they taught me how to use a sniper rifle. I know how to use brass knuckles, assault rifles, shotguns, and switchblades, so of course a bow and arrow seems impractical.

Eh, might as well test it out before I charge in with my fists and possibly die to a real weapon like an axe. I unsling the bow from my back and pull out an arrow from my quiver (which I apparently also have). I walk until I'm about 30 feet from a bandit that lance boy is fighting.

Nock, shoot. I can tell from the smoothness of the motion that it comes from countless hours of training… that I don't have. The arrow soars through the air and slams into the bandit's chest. I look down at my hands and blink. What other reflexes and skills do I have in this world? For all I know, I could be a swordmaster or in this universe.

I nock an arrow when the next bandit approaches, but the instincts that are not mine stop me from shooting. Too far, they say, which is absurd since bows should be able to reach halfway across a battlefield. Not these ones, I guess. I creep towards the next bandit as lance boy runs after it.

Crunching on leaves alerts me to a bandit approaching me from the side. I leap away as he swings at me, but when I ready my bow to retaliate the same instincts stop me. If I nock an arrow and steady my aim, I'm opening myself open to him splitting my skull open. I need to get away.

The sword merc leaps into my field of view and unleashes a spinning slash on the bandit. He falls, and I see a second cut in his back where she must have struck him earlier. Didn't look like the most efficient way of killing him, but I'm not in a position to criticize right now. I nod to her and turn back to lance boy, who is engaged with yet another bandit who looks indistinguishable from the rest. I run over and fire off a couple of shots from around 30 feet away (seriously, shouldn't bows have a longer effective range than this?) and the ruffian falls.

"Thanks for the help, Claude. We should-"

He freezes while looking to the side. I follow his gaze and see a larger bandit charging towards poor 5'2" axe girl. Except she somehow lost her axe, and only wields a dagger.

So she's fucked.

Sword merc and cavalier merc are rushing over, but I know they won't arrive in time. Well, time for a classic desperation play. Like those times when I made random moves in chess when I started losing to my dad and it always made me lose faster. If there is a God out there, I'll have some questions about why he's putting me in this position.

I run towards the bandit as he rushes towards axe girl. When he's right about to reach her, I nock an arrow, screeching like a banshee as I loose it.

In the movies, this is where I shout a witty one-liner (though really, the only thought going through my head is "over here, dipshit"). But here my job is to distract the bandit until help arrives. What's going to be more distracting: a sassy one-liner you can barely hear or a wail so obnoxious it sounds like it came straight out of the depths of hell?

And the worst part is that it works. I keep screaming, and the bandit hesitates. He jerks away from the arrow that was going to miss him anyway. This gives sword merc enough time to rush in front of axeless girl. The bandit tries to attack sword merc, who parries the blow and forces him back. When cavalier merc draws close, the bandit darts into the foliage. Sword merc's legs tense and I can tell she wants to chase, but a halting order from cavalier merc stops her.

Right when I think I'm starting to figure out who these people are and what their deal is, _another _group of people arrive. These ones are armored in gear that looks more shiny and official than what the mercs have, and are led by a guy with a battleaxe, a spiked pauldron on his left shoulder only (don't ask me why), and a mustache that for some reason doesn't cover the middle of his lip.

He announces himself to be part of the "Knights of Serios," and recognizes cavalier merc, who groans loud enough for me to hear when mustache knight approaches him.

I look back at lance boy, who shrugs. How much am I supposed to understand about this world?

#

I listen in on introductions. Mustache knight's name is Alois (but he doesn't talk in a French accent… though I guess I shouldn't judge with my name), and cavalier merc's name is Jeralt. Turns out Jeralt and sword merc are actual mercenaries, so score one for my deduction skills. Alois doesn't recognize sword merc, who walks up and tells this knight that she's a bandit. Even voice, deadpan expression. He still laughs. Apparently sword merc is Jeralt's kid, but Alois hasn't seen Jeralt in decades so he didn't know Jeralt had a child.

Right when I'm starting to make headway figuring out who everyone is, axe girl and lance boy pull sword merc aside. I can't hear exactly what they're saying, but I'm pretty sure they're heaping praises onto her. How did we get chased by bandits to begin with, anyway?

Listening in on Alois gives me a bit of background. Lance boy, axe girl, and I are students at a nearby military academy who got separated from the others and were pursued by bandits. Makes sense why I know how to use a bow, then, if I'm training to be a military officer in this world. While she's talking to sword merc, I see axe girl point to me and say that I was the one who broke off and attracted the bandits. I raise an eyebrow, but it's not exactly like I have the evidence to rebut her.

Eventually, axe girl and lance boy leave sword merc alone, which gives me the opportunity to approach her. She looks like she's somewhere in her early twenties, which seems young to be risking her life every day but then I remember how the US military recruits poor kids and sends them to the front lines when they reach 18. Gotta keep the military sector running on the blood of poor kids so that millionaires designing weapons can make more money, right?

And there's my mom coming out in me.

I push away from my mother's ideology and clear my throat while I step up to sword merc.

"Thanks for the save," I say. "You're, uh, pretty vicious."

And she has a dead look in her eyes. But at least there are pupils and irises in them.

"Thank you. Are you also going to tell me why I should join your house?" Her eyes narrow. "Where are you from? My father never educated me much about the outside world."

I know the feeling, sis.

"I'm from, ah…"

I study my uniform for the first time. It has a bunch of symbols on it that probably mean something, but I don't know what.

"It's fine if you don't want to say. What about your name? I'm Byleth."

"Claude. Nice to meet you, I think?"

She sizes me up in the way that my mom always did when debating whether to teach me another weapon.

"What makes you so unsure, Claude?"

"Guess I'm unsure about being unsure." I put my hands behind my head and crack a smirk.

"Fascinating. And what is the significance of your necklace? The quality of the metal charm attached to it is unlike anything I've seen in this world."

"Oh, this little thing?" I hold the Falchion charm in my palm. "It was a goodbye gift from a…"

Friend? Babysitter? Mentor? I'm not sure any of those words encapsulate what Lucina means to me.

The steel blade of the Falchion charm glows dark purple in my hand.

"Does it normally do that?" Byleth says.

"No, this is the first time it-"

My vision goes black. I stumble around, and after a few steps I lose track of the ground and experience the sensation of floating.

#

I start awake in the middle of the street, Middle-of-fuck-nowhere, Iowa. I hop to my feet and drag my bike to the side of the road. I check my phone, and it's been about 20 minutes since I left the McDonald's. Considering the bike ride is supposed to be 10 minutes… well, I won't belabor the arithmetic.

My first priority is to get home safely, and I can properly freak out and enter existential crisis mode about my looming insanity and/or being transported to an alternate dimension after I'm behind a locked door. I mean, this can't be worse than the time my dad threw me into a pool and told me to swim as my first exposure to bodies of water larger than a bathtub.

Well, my mother told me that she sent me here so that I'd need to be on my guard and expect the unexpected. I don't think this is exactly what she had in mind, but mission fucking accomplished, mother.

* * *

**Hi everyone. The name's Connor, and I'm new to writing FE fics so I'm happy to venture into a new fandom! :D Reviews/comments greatly appreciated as always ****(I'll always respond to them in the next chapter) ****and my PMs are open if you wanna chat (I might take a while to respond though lol)**

**This fic is a lot of firsts for me. First long-form fic in 1st person and a focus on internal thoughts/monologue (which is haaaaard to write), 1st long-form fic outside Earthbound (characters are much more flexible when they don't have personalities lol), 1st fic where I'm going to focus a bit more on active romantic/sexual relationships between characters (there's gonna be no porn/sex scenes though), so thanks for bearing with me. **

**Some of the characters will be a bit OoC in the real world in order to make things work, but I'll try to keep the Fodlan versions of characters _somewhat _close to canon.**

**Additional notes:**

-Claude working at McDonald's is sort of a meme due to his English voice actor, Joe Zieja, having worked there

-Creeper guy at the start is definitely Thales, and this is Claude's first encounter with him


	2. Chapter 1: Homeroom Teacher

**Part 1: White Clouds**

In the following days leading up to my move-in, I don't notice any other odd events. Creepy McCreepface doesn't show his mole face again, and there's no more randomly being yanked to a knockoff Medieval Europe. When my hand brushes against my Falchion charm it does turn dark for a moment, but this ends when I let go of it. I keep the necklace off my body and on my desk. I don't know if it's superstitious to avoid something I've seen with my two eyes, but it still reminds me of my father and all his idiosyncrasies designed to prevent omens.

I call Lucina every day, but the end of her line is as dead as it had been for the past seven years. Worth a shot, at least. The more time I spend on an empty line calling her, the more I think back to her final goodbye to me. It was right after my parents split and my mom was in the process of moving me and her into a grimier apartment in a shadier part of Seattle. When Lucina announced that she was leaving too, I broke down into tears.

I prodded her for details, and she only said that she was going somewhere far away, further than the rural Pennsylvania where my dad was going, and she didn't know when she could return. That was when she gave me the Falchion charm.

Why didn't she come out and say where she was going? And what was up with the mark in her eye? She said that her father called it the "Mark of the Exalt" and made up some story about how they were descended from faraway royalty. The way she talked about her heritage and the way she announced her departure made it sound like she was humoring a child by implying that she was going off to a fantasy land. Except this was when I was old enough to know better.

And her Falchion charm, if I could believe my own senses, seems to have powers that are considered magical or fantastical within this world. Hmm.

I don't have anyone to talk to besides coworkers (blegh), so these thoughts jumble in my head until it's move-in day at Garreg Mach High School. Don't ask my why they named a Catholic school in Iowa "Garreg Mach."

Thankfully, I live light and our rooms come with beds, desks, and chairs. Which means that besides toiletries, electronics, and my hydro flask, I really only have my clothes and my bike to transport, the latter of which goes in a separate rack. I'm still annoyed at my mom for throwing out random books and trinkets in an attempt to prevent me from getting attached to material objects, I'm thankful at this specific moment. I'm able to take my backpack and unload the smaller objects in one trip, locking away my bike in the process. I walk back to my apartment and drag my suitcase over after calculating how much money I have and realizing I can't afford an Uber.

It's a twenty-minute walk both ways, so it's good that they're giving us all day to unload and get settled. I meet my roommate on my second trip when I'm tossing my suitcase of clothes in my closet and deciding to worry about it later. He's a wiry-thin kid with glasses who introduces himself as Ignatz. We exchange the usual pleasantries.

"I'm looking forward to all the classes we get to take this year," he says. "The ones last year taught me so much. It's hard to get an education this good around here. I don't think I've seen you around, though?"

Oh, right. The school has scholarships for kids living nearby. I doubt Iggy here knows all the people in the few nearby towns, but he'd probably have heard about someone like me who's brown.

"Yeah, this is my first year here, and I'm not a local."

"But you also don't look…" He glances at my small pile of belongings in the corner of my room.

His mom walks into the room at this point, scolding Ignatz about not judging people. His face flushes like a cherry, and he apologizes profusely. I say it's fine, which it is.

"I'm in a bit of a weird situation," I say. "I'm from Seattle, but I'm not as rich as the other out-of-towners you probably know."

"Ooh, the Northwest." His face lights up. "You'll need to tell me about the Pacific Ocean sometime. It looks beautiful in all the pictures. I'd love to draw it sometime."

So I guess the Space Needle and the fish markets don't mean anything to this guy. Though it does get annoying when visitors harp on the same damn landmarks every time, so maybe I should appreciate 'ol Iggy. Ignatz's mom introduces herself to me, and we exchange pleasantries.

"So are you an artist?" I ask Ignatz.

"It's his passing fancy," his mother says. "He's studying hard to become a doctor."

She rubs his head like he's a puppy, and he flushes again. He looks kinda cute when he's blushing, and shy guys are totally my type, but he hasn't given off any gay energy yet so I'm going to assume he's straight for the time being. Besides, it's probably a terrible idea to try and kindle something with a roommate.

After she leaves the room to use the bathroom, I shoot a glance at Ignatz.

"A doctor, huh?" I say. "Sounds miserable."

"I, uh… do really like painting. How about you? What are some of your hobbies?"

Shit. What do I like to do, again?

"I work a lot. Gotta pay for groceries, you know? Besides that…"

"Are your parents not letting you eat their food during the summer?"

"They don't, and I'm also not living with them. My mom thinks it will teach me to be 'resourceful.' It's a whole thing." I pause, and Ignatz blanches. "Don't worry about it. Let's see… I like going on hikes and stuff."

"Oh, how are the hikes in Washington?" Ignatz clasps his hands together. "I hear you have trees taller than ten-story buildings."

"Yeah, the largest ones can get up to 300 or 400 feet. The air is nicer, too. A lot less humid than here."

"What about birds? I bet you see bird's nests all the time. I love the meadowlarks here, but it would be great to get some more variety."

Iggy proves to be chattier than I expect, and we go on for a while like this. Eventually, I excuse myself to go check out other parts of the school. He offers to take me on a tour since he went here last year, and I decline. Better to scope out the lay of the land myself.

Yeesh. I'm starting to sound like my parents again.

#

The hall where I'm staying has little cutouts with the names of the people in each room like we're kindergarteners. They cutout decorations are different colors and animals that I don't especially pay attention to. I type all the names in my phone and make a mental note to Facebook stalk them later when I'm bored and want to make sure they're not _only _posting stuff about how everyone who disagrees with them is going to hell. I'm sure most people are fine, but you can't be too sure at a Catholic school when you're brown and queer.

It doesn't take long, and I'm about to open the door to the staircase when someone swings it open into my face. I stumble back and fall on the ground.

Perfect. I guess my life really is a teen drama.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorr-" The voice cuts off.

I blink away the pain and hop to my feet. A blonde girl with her hair tied in braids looks at me, cocking her head.

"Hi," she says. "Sorry about the accident. I haven't seen you at the school before."

"The name's Claude. Yeah, my mom transferred me over here this year."

"Claude, huh?" her gaze narrows. "Where are you from?"

"Seattle," I say. "I miss good salmon."

"But like…" silence hangs between us. "Where are you _from?_"

Well, that was fast. Turns out rich kids from around the nation are more racist than the Iowan farmers everyone loves to make fun of.

"My mom's ancestors are from Ireland and Germany," I say. "Don't ask me why she gave me a French name."

"And what about your dad? Where is he from?"

"Seattle. I was born there because he and my mom were living there."

"He was born in Seattle?"

"Okay, he was born in Tehran, but-"

"I knew it." She flashes a triumphant smile. "There's no need to hide who you are from me, Claude. I don't hate your people, and I'm sure you're one of the good Arabs-"

"You're aware Tehran isn't in Arabia, right?" I say.

"Yo, Ingrid," comes another voice. "Who are you talking to?"

A guy swaggers through the doorway, looking about the same age as me and Ingrid. He scratches the back of his head with one hand and tries to pass it off as cool by showing his muscles. I can't believe I have to deal with frat boys in a place with no frats.

"Oh, I see what's going on," frat boy says. "Hey Ingrid, why don't you go help Dimitri unpack? The more time we leave him alone, the more Felix is going to bully him."

"Why don't you go?"

"Ugh, that sounds like so much work." He slouches his shoulders. "I don't wanna."

Spoken like a true frat boy.

"Fine," Ingrid says. "Since you're useless as always, I'll go pick up for your slack. But you'll need to take those bags to my room for me."

She opens the door to the staircase, glaring at frat boy before she shuts it behind her.

"Phew, Hurricane Ingrid decided to pass around us this time," frat boy says. "Nice to meet'cha. I'm Sylvain. And you're…?"

"Claude."

"Nice, nice. As you may have noticed, Ingrid doesn't have an especially enlightened view of…"

I raise an eyebrow. "Brown people?"

"She's fine with Latino people." Sylvain frowns. "I think. It's just that her dad was in the towers when 9/11 happened, and he-"

"Well first, that's a stupid reason for her to hold a prejudice. You Americans overthrew the government of my dad's people and put a puppet ruler, which set the stage for a violent revolution that killed thousands. And I don't hate the American people for that."

Sylvain shrugs. "Not trying to justify it. I agree that it's stupid to hate someone for what they're born with."

"And second, I told her I'm not ethnically Arabic. I think she has a problem with brown people in general."

"Eh, we're working on it." A pause. "Oh, how about you join us for dinner in the cafeteria tonight? Ingrid and Felix are already busy doing online ALEKS homework for their chemistry class, so you can chill with me and Dimitri."

Before the term even starts? Damn, chemistry is brutal.

"I'll consider it," I say.

"All right, well we'll be down at 6:30. Feel free to stop by and say hi. I know some of the other people are interested in meeting you, as well. We were all part of the same homeroom class last year, so we know each other a little _too _well, if you get what I mean. I can introduce you to all the hot chicks in our class."

Yep, definitely a fuckboi. Though a _true _fuckboi tries to fight other males to have control over the pussy (from the fuckboi's twisted perspective, anyway), so I guess I shouldn't be too hard on this guy. Not that I even identify as male, but I'm guessing he doesn't notice and doesn't care. Straight dude or no, Sylvain is doing his best to make sure that I feel welcome here. And despite all my father's lessons about how I should learn to only rely on myself, that does matter to me.

"On second thought, how about I commit to 6:30?" I say. "I'll be downstairs to meet you and your… friend?"

"Yup. I've known Dimitri since we were kids. Manhattan rick folks are a tight-knit bunch. But don't worry, the two of us aren't stuck-up assholes."

I already know what to expect from Ingrid, but I am curious about this "Felix" person that Ingrid seemed genuinely concerned about when left with Dimitri.

I survived a battlefield, but who's to say that feeling out political dynamics of teen social groups is any easier than firing arrows at bandits from a (weirdly short) distance?

#

The afternoon is devoted to exploring the nearby area, and it takes a surprising amount of time to pop into the nearby stores. Bubble tea, sub shops, pizza places, coffee shops, cheap buffets… the area around the high school almost resembles a downtown area. And since my mother can't charge me for rent and food because they're both tied in with tuition, I'm free to use any money I earn on eating out. Any permanent objects will have her railing against the waste of modern consumerism, and she'll offer less support next year if she sees I'm saving up money and starts to think of me as being independent. It's a tight balance to walk.

I arrive at the cafeteria a few minutes past 6:30, which is bigger than I was expecting it to be. Instead of the long tables from my public high schools back in Seattle, there are much cleaner circular tables for people to sit at and chat. There are even restaurant-style booths.

Guess my mother wasn't kidding when she said this place was swanky. I resolve not to hate that fact as much as she does, inefficient use of space or no.

I use the ID the school gave me to scan in at the entrance. For a private school that charges way too much money, they seem to keep a pretty tight hold on making sure we don't eat more meals than we're supposed to. They give us plastic utensils, and I'm guessing it's because people stole the metal ones.

Memories of my mother raving about the evils of capitalism pop into my head, and I ignore them as I serve myself a rice bowl with cooked spinach, carrots, cucumbers, soybeans, thin beef, a fried egg, and a spicy red pepper paste that the cooks call bibimbap. Apparently it's Korean. I'm not sure if Iowans are more open to eating non-American food than I thought, or if it's a rich private school thing. I start to miss the restaurants of different cultures we had back in Seattle. Not that my mom let me go to them more than a couple times a year after my dad left.

I spot Sylvain sitting across from a kid with blond hair, and I get close before he waves me over. The other kid turns around to look at me, and I almost drop my bowl of food right there.

He looks exactly like lance boy from that weird fantasy world. He's dressed in a polo shirt and khakis instead of a military uniform, but his face and bowl cut are the same. I shake myself out of my shock and approach Sylvian. He pulls out a seat for me between him and Dimitri, and I sit down.

"What's up with you, Claude?" Sylvain says. "You look like you just saw a ghost."

"I'm pale enough that it's not the first time I've given off that impression," the other boy says, smirking.

"It's nothing. Sylvain said that your name is Dimitri? I'm Claude."

He nods, and as we shake hands I see the golden cross hanging from a chain necklace around his throat. Of course there are going to be Christians in a Catholic school, but do I need to watch out for this guy in particular?

I use the tricks my dad taught me to size him up quickly without looking like I'm studying him. He immediately seems like less of a swaggering fuckboi than Sylvain. There is fear laced within his posture, but not at me, and it's hidden behind an outward aura of calm and confidence. And maybe fear isn't quite right. It's more of a tension in his joints. Anger, perhaps? It's more of an aura than something I can point to on a drawing of the human anatomy.

So I don't have any reason to suspect he hates queer people more than most Christians, but I'm curious about what's going on underneath the surface. Maybe I shouldn't care. It's not like I'm his therapist. But come on. Isn't there something alluring about someone with a dark, brooding aura?

Oh no. Am I letting myself get attracted to this guy?

"I apologize for how Ingrid treated you," Dimitri says. "We're working on it. It takes time to unlearn what she's been taught."

I don't especially care about seeing things from her point of view. No hard feelings from me to her, but it's best if I don't interact with her.

"Another one of your projects," Sylvain says, leaning back in his seat. "He's trying to get me to stop flirting with people. Like there's a problem with that. Oh, hey Dorothea."

His voice switches to being smooth as poisoned honey when he turns and addresses someone behind me. I look over my shoulder and see a girl wearing a casual dress that shows enough cleavage that I'm amazed none of these Catholics threw her out for impropriety. She wears a hat that makes her look like a train conductor from one of those black-and-white British film reels, but walks with enough confidence to be able to rock it.

Okay, she's definitely cute. Though given how she dresses like a popular girl and has the commanding aura of one, I'm surprised not to see a posse of friends surrounding her.

"Hey, Sylvain," Dorothea says. "You already sniped the new kid away, huh? Trying to get him to join your house?"

House? I frown at Sylvain, who lets out a snort.

"Nah, Dimitri can do that if he wants to. You know what kinds of people _I _want in my house."

And he winks at her. This might be the closest I've been while observing a fuckboi in its natural habitat.

"I wonder if there are fewer girls in your house _because _you're such a hopeless flirt." She twirls a lock of hair around her finger. "Now excuse me before you try to act smooth again and I vomit over our poor new classmate."

She puts a hand on my shoulder, smiles, and walks off. My heart flutters for a second.

Damn, she's good.

"I agree that your flirting is a little sleazy," I tell Sylvain, "But what was she talking about with houses? We all live in the same hall, right?"

"Did you notice how our door decorations had a specific combination of color and animal?" Dimitri says.

People say photographic memory isn't real, and that's probably scientifically true. But thanks to grueling memory exercises, I do have the ability to take in lots of details about a scene without really processing them, and recall them later on command. So even though I wasn't really focusing on the door decorations when jotting down names on my phone, I can remember what they look like.

"Yours were both a blue lion, right?"

"Yup." Sylvain puffs out his chest. "Holy students of honor. In our house, chivalry is not dead."

Not dead, but probably just as stupid as it was historically.

"We got to choose factions at the start of last year," Dimitri says. "It was a way for the teachers to get us into groupwork and encourage us to do better by competing with each other."

Right, because nothing says good stress management policy like encouraging Harvard-aspiring students to compete against each other _more._

"I'm guessing the teachers will make you join the Golden Deer, since they're short a member," Dimitri says. "Though I'd certainly be happy if you decided to become a part of the Blue Lions, and I hope we remain on good terms regardless."

"Dorothea's part of the Black Eagles," Sylvain says. "Maybe I should join their house."

Golden Deer and Black Eagles, huh? Thinking back, my outfit in fantasy land was yellow, Dimitri's was blue, and axe girl's was… well, red instead of black. There goes that theory.

"Does she not hate your guts?" I say. "Because it sounded like she did."

"Ah, girls get like that sometimes. It's a temporary thing."

I glance over at Dimitri, who sighs and shakes his head. I'm grateful at this moment to not go through all the shit female-presenting people are subjected to.

"I wonder if we could introduce him to Annette, Mercedes, Dedue, and Ashe," Sylvain says. "Do you think they're around?"

"Dedue is busy tonight," Dimitri says. "I haven't talked to the other three. But I don't imagine joining a house with Ingrid is your preference, Claude?"

"Yeah, that doesn't sound good for anyone involved. Where can I go to meet these Golden Deer?"

"Behind you, bitchboy."

Well, this was going to happen sooner or later. I take a full bite out of my food first, and when I respond I don't bother turning around.

"Nice to see you too, Hilda."

"Damn," Sylvain draws out the word. "You're gonna let her treat you like that?"

"I've considered vehicular manslaughter as an alternative," I say, "But I hear Juvie is especially nasty around here."

Dimitri drops his fork on the table and blinks at me. He does know that I'm joking, right?

"Bitchboy and I go a ways back." I feel Hilda's hand on my shoulder. "We dated in middle school, actually. How'd you end up here at a Catholic school? I thought your dad's a Muslim."

"Yeah, my mom was the one who sent me here," I say.

This time, I turn around and see her reaction. She only offers a raised eyebrow.

"Is she still a Satanist and an anarcho-communist?" Hilda says.

Dimitri's face blanches further. "A… what?"

I nod. "She sent me here because she had to go through Catholic school, and it was what shattered her faith in religion forever. She told me outright that she's hoping the same will happen to me."

"But you're not religious, right?"

"Do we have to talk about this in front of Mr. Cross-on-his-necklace?" I say.

"No, keep going," Sylvain says, failing to suppress a smile. "I'm having a blast."

"Claude." Dimitri leans forward. "Is your mother okay? If she needs help, I know people she can call."

"'Is she okay' is a separate question from 'will she accept your help.' And don't worry, she's different the image of Satanists that you probably have in your mind."

"Her rants about how Satan is misunderstood were surprisingly interesting," Hilda said. "I should message her about offensive jokes I can make to these Catholic snobs."

I raise an eyebrow point a finger at Dimitri's cross. Hilda ignores me.

"Oh shit." Sylvain's eyes widen. "Seteth's right behind you, Hilda."

Hilda yelps and leaps back, her body twisting in midair. She crashes into my chair. Seeing nobody behind her, she turns back to Sylvain and balls her hands into fists. As her face twists in anger, Sylvain breaks into laughter.

"Don't scare me like that," Hilda says. "I thought Seteth was going to-"

"Seteth?" I say.

"Oh, he's the _worst_," Sylvain says. "Duck out of the way whenever you see him."

"He's quite a kind and considerate person," Dimitri says. "As an authority figure and teacher, he is… a tad strict."

"I'm sure I'll learn enough to make my own judgment," I say. "Hilda, what house are you a part of?"

"The Golden Deer." She frowns. "But you're probably part of a whole separate system since I'm guessing you don't live on our floor."

"He does," Sylvain said. "Ingrid bumped into him a few hours ago and called him 'one of the good Arabs.'"

"Thanks for reminding me," I say.

"Why don't you masquerade as Mexican?" Hilda says. "That's what other Arabs do."

"One, I'm much happier when I don't hide who I am, and it's not my job to protect the egos of racists to make them feel secure. In fact, you're part of the problem if you tell other people to do shit like this."

"Not other people. Just you."

"Second, you know I don't have any Arabic heritage."

"I don't think she's going to feel better about you being Iranian, with them chanting 'Death to the US' and all that."

I exhale. "You're an asshole, Hilda, and we can talk later about how to make you not come off as a _racist _asshole."

"Aw, thanks bitchboy."

"See, focus on insults like that. Now, I want to meet with the other Golden Deer. Dimitri says that I'll probably be joining you, and I want to make sure that not everyone is as insufferable as you."

"Your relationship must have been interesting," Sylvain says. "How long did it last?"

"Seven months," Hilda says.

"Seven months too long," I say.

"And to answer your question, bitchboy," Hilda says, "I have no idea where the other fawns are."

"Fawns?" Dimitri says.

"Golden Deer students." Hilda whips out her phone. "Get with the program, Boomer."

"Boomer?"

Sylvain pats him on the shoulder. "I'll explain later."

"All right, you've outlived your usefulness now that I know you aren't keeping tabs on the people I'm interested in meeting," I tell Hilda. "Are you going to scram, or do I need to chase you out by swinging a bowl at you?"

"Hey, hey, not so fast." Sylvain runs a hand through his hair. "Lovely Hilda, would you like to join us for dinner?"

I glance at Dimitri. "How do you feel about her eating with us after those comments she made relating to various aspects surrounding what I'm guessing is your faith?"

"I… am trying to be open to people who have other ways of thinking." His face still looks somewhat pale. "She's welcome to join us. But your mother, Claude…"

"So Claude," Sylvain said. "You okay with your ex crashing our party?"

"I feel like if I say no, you're going to kick me out."

Sylvain ponders for a second, then nods. Dimitri elbows him, and he bursts out laughing again.

"Kidding, kidding," Sylvain says. "I know what it's like to deal with exes. No judgment if you two wanna repel like two electrons."

"I'm fine if she joins us," I say. "So long as you're okay with us launching casual threats at each other."

"The backbone of our relationship becomes the backbone of our friendship," Hilda says, putting on a dainty smile.

Working with her in the Golden Deer House might be kind of fun, actually. It's nice to be able to vent all my frustrations on someone who absolutely deserves it.

Hilda drops her stuff off and goes off to grab food. I consider stealing something from her backpack, but decide against it. No need to freak poor Dimitri out more than Hilda and I already have.

#

We spend dinner talking about general life at a boarding school in Middle-of-fuck-nowhere, Iowa, and I do my best to get Dimitri into the conversation when Sylvain and Hilda start shouting over him. I see him clutch his cross and pray a few times during the course of the dinner. And as cute as he looks when he's embarrassed, he also looks cute when he's focused.

This could be a problem.

After dinner, Ignatz goes to bed at 10 like a goody two-shoes freak, and I have nothing left to do without my usual work shift so I start stalking people on Facebook. Axe girl from the fantasy world is also here at this school, and her name is Edelgard. I find her Twitter, and her bio includes the phrase "values reason and despises those who do not" next to her status as an atheist, which is the exact opposite sort of "yikes" moment I was expecting from a Catholic school attendee. Though she's also bisexual like me, which I guess is neat?

Hilda's social media is full of posts about positivity, which I snort at. Only a couple more catch my eye. First is Hubert, who posts creepypastas enough that I'm not sure if I can pass it off an edgy kid thing. Also, he's definitely too old to be attending this school. The second is Marianne, who makes most of her posts about how to avoid the wrath of God with captions like "I'm not sure I can do this." At least she also posts cute animal pictures.

I do go to bed before midnight, yet I still wake up tired the next morning for classes. After getting ready for school and eating breakfast, I go to my assigned homeroom classroom. Everyone from our floor is supposed to be present, and most of them are already there even though I'm ten minutes early. Dimitri is sitting next to a kid I recognize from my Facebook stalking as Felix, who I remember posting videos consisting of him whirling around a katana and replying to everyone who called a weeb in the comments with "blocked". Ingrid is two seats over, which is enough space for me. I approach Dimitri and wait for him to nod before taking my seat.

I look up at the front of the room and see the person who must be our teacher staring at the board. She wears a trench coat with slits in her sleeves wide enough for her arm to fit through. As a result, her entire lower arm is uncovered, and the empty sleeve sorta flaps around whenever she moves. Talk about impractical. She turns around, and I feel my muscles tighten up when I see her face.

Byleth.

* * *

**Bibimbap is delicious and y'all should try it at least once.**

**One of the challenges about writing an FE fic is the sheer number of characters I need to deal with. On top of that, each character behaves differently on Earth compared to Fodlan. The easiest way for the story to tell a lot of stuff about the characters is for Claude to be an outsider and learn everything along with the reader, so that's why I'm having him transfer in when all the other students here already know each other.**

**Notes:**

-My headcanon is that Nader is Claude's dad, and Nader is a Persian name (he's also coded as Middle Eastern). So it made sense to give Claude Persian/Iranian ancestry

-Claude being bisexual is also a... I want to say meme, but that doesn't quite encapsulate it. People were (are?) legitimately outraged that he isn't bi in canon, and I'm doing my part in correcting IS's mistake. :)


	3. Chapter 2: Three Houses

Really, I shouldn't be shocked. Dimitri and Edelgard exist both in this world and in the knockoff fantasy Europe I travelled to, so it makes sense that Byleth would have a real-world equivalent as well. But the nimble, sword-swinging mercenary from my magical acid trip being my homeroom teacher somehow leaves me speechless when seeing Dimitri in a polo shirt and khakis only made me raise an eyebrow.

I see that Dimitri notices my reaction to seeing Byleth's face, but he doesn't press me on it. Which is good, because I don't know what I would say. I don't know this Byleth, not _really, _and she most certainly doesn't know me. What good explanation is there for freaking out upon the sight of her?

The others file into the room in the minutes before class starts, and I run through each of their names as they enter. The ones I pay the closest attention to are the ones from the Golden Deer faction, including Hilda. Marianne looks as downtrodden in person as she seems to be in her Facebook and Instagram posts. Lorenz struts into the room like a peacock and wrinkles his nose at a desk with crumbs on it, moving to the next seat over. All the others seem more or less normal, including my roommate Ignatz.

Byleth starts the class by fiddling with her laptop and the projector until it displays her PowerPoint. The first slide shows a picture of them holding a sea bass that's nearly the length of their leg, while they wear a white t-shirt with red, blocky letters reading "Women want me; fish fear me." Beneath the image is a text box that says, "My name is Mx. Eisner, but feel free to call my Byleth (they/she)."

I can't stop myself from whistling. A real enby in the flesh teaching at a Catholic school. This year is about to get much more interesting.

"Um, Claude." Dimitri nudges my shoulder and points at the title slide. "Do you know why she puts M-x in front of her name?" He says the title letter by letter. "I've never seen that before."

"It means that our dear teacher is nonbinary," I say. "So Mr. and Ms. don't feel representative of who they are."

"Non…" he furrows his brow. "Binary as in the computer code?"

I hear Sylvain laugh next to Dimitri. "You'll have to forgive him for not being especially 'woke.'"

I raise an eyebrow at Sylvain. Not to be a little bitch, but I don't exactly appreciate the implication that only "woke" people can acknowledge that we exist. Sylvain doesn't catch the motion, and I shake my head.

"People who don't feel male or female," I tell Dimitri.

"But doesn't she still-"

"Have the body of a woman? Maybe. For people like Byleth, their core identity matters more than which sex organs they were born with."

Dimitri still looks confused, which I guess is a point in his favor since he's not immediately dismissive or disgusted. Gotta take the small victories

"Claude," Byleth says. "Are you and your friend ready to begin class?"

How do they know my name? "Er… yes, teacher."

Byleth introduces themselves as being new to the school, and goes over their history living in a log cabin in the forests of Oregon with their father Jeralt. They say that we're allowed to take the t-shirt in their picture however we want to, which I guess is as close as a female-presenting person can say to being attracted to women that they can here. For all we know, Byleth's shirt _could _mean that they have a bunch of great female friends who value them. Still, a number of students seem surprised enough that I'm pretty sure you're not even supposed to go that far at a Catholic school. I glance over at Edelgard since I know she's bi, and I can see her smiling and nodding along.

All right, this year is going to be _much _more interesting than I anticipated.

The next order of business is having us introduce ourselves. I notice that Byleth knows most of the Black Eagles students by name, but has to glance at their attendance sheet for the rest of us. Except for me. Which is odd, since nobody else in this school has any idea who I am.

I pick up a few more random bits of information. From the black eagles, a skittish girl named Bernadetta likes Venus flytraps, A boy with bags under his eyes named Linhardt has apparently published data in the field of genomics, and Dorothea was on American Idol. From the Blue Lions, a boy named Ashe demonstrates talks about how Sylvain dared him to break into his own room by picking his lock, and that it was shockingly easy. A girl named Anette who talks fast enough that I barely understand her offers to clean any of our rooms on the weekends when she's normally bored. And I bet nobody's even going to exploit her for that labor. Catholic school kids are so nice and trusting that it makes me uncomfortable.

I talk about some bland Seattle shit when it's my turn. I've never been to the Seattle Comicon, it smells like weed everywhere, and I walked through the streets as a toddler surrounded by buildings that pierced the sky.

Then it goes to the Golden Deer students, where I pay a bit more attention. Lorenz mentions that his family runs a big bank, so now I have someone to personally blame when thinking about how the financial crisis of 2008 tore my family apart. Lysithea is one of those kids who skipped two grades and is way smarter than anyone else in the class, but I almost laugh when she talks about wanting to be respected as an honorary adult right after mentioning her love for skittles and fun-dip. Raphael the jock is open about how the school paid for his tuition after his parents died in an accident while constructing one of the school's new buildings. I see my roommate Ignatz grimace at this.

It's a lot for me to take in at once, and I start to make titles in my head for each of the students to help me remember them. Linhardt the sleepy geneticist. Lysithea the candy-loving prodigy. Mairanne the depressed horse girl. Leonie the non-depressed horse girl. Ashe the wholesome rogue. Dedue the token black kid. Ingrid the racist. You know, normal identifiers.

Byleth announces that for the rest of homeroom class will be a free period for people to catch up with the rest of their in-school faction and choose a leader for the rest of the year. From the way Sylvain cheers and Hilda lets out a sigh of relief, I can tell that our new teacher is a nice change of pace for these competitive private school students. Ferdinand (who I've dubbed the Reaganomics apologist) objects and says that we should be given in-class assignments "befitting of our elite status." Thankfully, the others shut him up before I need to walk out of the class and vomit.

After people group up, Byleth approaches me to talk about faction assignments. Apparently the leader of the Golden Deer transferred out at the end of last year. Good for him. Glad to know that some people are escaping the system. I wonder if my mom is right about Catholic school being the best insurance that someone won't be Catholic through their adult life.

I'm fine joining the Golden Deer, mostly so that I can argue with Hilda whenever I need to let some steam out. The seven of them have arranged their desks in a circle, and I'm put in the position of adding one in while the others scoot to allow another desk to fit.

"Glad to see that you decided to join us, bitchboy," Hilda says. "Ready to come in last for every contest like we did last year?"

At this, Lorenz (who I'm calling "the medieval lord" due to him mentioning that he's looking for a proper wife) launches into a tirade about how amazing the Golden Deer are and how we'll win every contest this year. From his extended and unnecessary examples, I piece together that the standing of each faction is determined by how well people do in classes. Points can be added towards this standing by doing additional work, such as tutoring and community service. Special projects and assignments for homeroom make up additional contests with rewards for the faction that does the best.

All right, so it's just a motivation system to make us do more work. Why exactly am I supposed to care about an algorithm primarily used to motivate kindergarteners?

The next course of action is to decide who will be the faction leader. The Black Eagles and the Blue Lions both choose their previous year's leaders in Edelgard and Dimitri, respectively. Judging from me listing into their conversations when Lorenz is ranting about how amazing we're supposed to be, Edelgard wanted to be the leader and was chosen over Reaganomics guru Ferdinand due to the input of her personal stan Hubert. Dimitri, on the other hand, seems like he only took the mantle of leader upon himself because everyone else wanted him to.

When I listen back into our conversation, Lorenz has announced that he thinks he should be the faction leader. Non-depressed horse girl Leonie refuses to accept him as such. They argue back and forth for what feels like an eternity.

"Everyone, shut up." Hilda rubs her temples. "Let's go through everyone and see who would make the best leader."

"Are you insinuating that you do not believe I am up to the task?" Lorenz says.

"Well, you're insufferable, so it obviously can't be you." Hilda cuts him off with a hand motion when he opens his mouth to speak. "Leonie, can't be you either. You never check your phone and you take road trips every weekend in your Jeep, so you won't be around to coordinate shit."

"Fine by me." Leonie leans back in her seat. "So long as it's not Lorenz, either."

"Right," Hilda says. "It can't be you, Lysithea, since you spend all your time studying with classes and get provoked easily."

"What?" Lysithea glares at Hilda. "I don't get provoked. Which idiot says I get-"

"Thanks for proving my point. Marianne, can't be you either. Lord knows you're the sweetest, but we need to work on your leadership skills."

"It's for the best." Marianne looks down. "I would only ruin everything anyway."

"Can't be you, Raphael," Hilda says. "I can't get you to focus on your _own _work, much less someone else's. Besides, all you think about is food and training."

"Er, ah…" I see him freeze while holding a piece of beef jerky up to his mouth.

"And not you, Ignatz," Hilda says. "You're sweet too, but you're a total pushover. You need to rule with an iron fist if you want to keep this ragtag group in line."

Hilda slams a fist down for effect. Ignatz gulps and nods.

"So you're saying it's you, then?" Lorenz says, crossing his arms.

"Nah, I'm too lazy to put in any effort. So that leaves only one person with none of our debilitating weaknesses. Someone who doesn't lack self-confidence, isn't a pushover, isn't a feisty little kid, cares about more than just meat and muscles, doesn't disappear into nature on the weekends, isn't hopelessly lazy, and isn't _quite _as insufferable as Lorenz."

Hilda's gaze turns to me, and everyone else's follow until fourteen eyes are staring my direction.

Fuck.

#

So just like that, I'm the leader of the Golden Deer faction of class. Thanks, Hilda.

I stay a couple minutes after homeroom class after all the other students have left and Byleth is packing up. They look over at me with a raised eyebrow after stuffing their laptop in a bag.

"Is there something I can help you with, Claude? Apologies if calling you out at the beginning of class felt like it exposed you. I'm still getting used to this whole 'teacher' bit."

"If you think I lingered on that for more than a second, you should see how my parents treat me."

"Should I be concerned?"

"Nah, I've got it under control." I think. "I wanted to say thanks for including your gender and pronouns and all that shit."

Byleth smiles at me. "You swearing means you better not report me for saying 'shit' and 'fuck' down the line." They draw a deep breath. "And yeah, I'm glad I could help. It's hard enough to feel like you don't belong in your body even when people are open and accepting."

"Yup, I'm nonbinary too so I feel that. I'm surprised they let a queer teach at a Catholic boarding school."

"Let's say there were some… unusual circumstances surrounding their hiring of me."

I wait for more, but Byleth doesn't elaborate.

"Can I help you with anything else, Claude? Us queers have to stick together, especially when we're surrounded by Christians."

Eh, I'm not convinced that the people here are any more hostile than a lot of the agnostics and atheists I know back home. And a lot of what Edelgard posts on social media about religion being a poison doesn't seem much better to me.

"I don't think so. Thanks, teach." I pause. "Is it okay if I call you that?"

"Teach? I don't see why not."

"Sweet. Have a good day, teach."

#

The rest of my classes go smoothly. Judging from the syllabi and the introductory lectures that the teachers give us, I'm not convinced that school will be that much harder than my public high school in Seattle. Which makes me wonder what the point of the school is. If it's not guaranteed to get you into an Ivy League, why send your kids all the way to Iowa?

Still, no need to get cocky now. I have a full course load and then some with AP Physics with calculus, second year AP Calculus, AP Economics, AP Literature, 3rd year Spanish, religion class, and an elective that varies from term to term. I take the afternoon to get ahead on homework, working outside while it's still technically summer.

When I return to my dorm room, the door bumps into Ignatz when I open it.

"Oh, shit." Wait, am I not supposed to swear in these good Christian halls? "Sorry, Ignatz. Didn't know you were there."

"Uh, Claude?"

"Yeah?"

I step inside and let the door close behind me to see him pointing at my Falchion charm on my desk. It's giving off dark wisps similar to the ball of energy Mr. Creepface shot at me when I was biking home from McDonald's.

"Fuck," I say. "How long has it been doing that?"

"Ever since I got back. I've been keeping watch in case something comes out of it."

"Something?"

Ignatz gulps. "Dimitri told me your mother was a Satanist, and-"

For fuck's sake. "This has nothing to do with that. And you probably have no idea what a Satanist is, do you?"

"I know they worship the devil."

"Depends on the sect. My mom is more closely affiliated with rational Satanism, which is still terrible for entirely different reasons. Think of it more like finding meaning in Satan as a symbol for hedonism, pride, and unfettered pleasure."

"I hope they find their way back to the light of God."

"Hey, that part of it's mostly fine," I say. "If they want to gather in an orgy and fuck or whatever, that's not my business."

From the way Ignatz's face pales, I don't think he agrees with me.

"Typical rational Satanism is a problem because it basically vouches for being an asshole," I say. "Saying that we should fuck over everyone else for our own benefit because that's the 'natural' way. I don't think I need to say that none of these dipshits know how evolutionary biology works. But my mom's not really one of them, either."

I think Ignatz is starting to calm down about the wisps of darkness now that he's seeing me launch into this explanation. Maybe he'll see me as morally corrupt, but if it gets the kid to stop hyperventilating then I'll take it.

"She believes in Satan as a symbol of a scapegoat," I say, "As an outsider. Hated like how the bible hates gay people. In a lot of ways, she agrees with a lot of Christian social justice. That we should help each other out and give to those who need it the most. But y'all have a history of shunning the people who are the most vulnerable, and she associates that with Satan."

"But… that's not…"

Yeah, I'm not sure why I'm defending my mother here, because she _is _kinda batshit crazy for believing we can exist in this perfect, compassionate communist society. But the least these Christian kids can do is call her batshit crazy for the right reasons.

"Listen. The Falchion charm isn't going to summon some demon. It's perfectly safe."

I walk over and pick up the necklace, holding the Falchion trinket in my palm. Ignatz lets out a small "eep."

"See?" I say. "Completely-"

The world goes black.

#

I awake standing up at the top of a stone staircase. Below is a row of what looks like medieval housing units, and further down is a stone building with a variety of plants growing inside.

All right, so I'm back in fantasy land. I scan the area around me, and I see that Hilda is standing right next to me in a uniform. I flinch and stumble back, nearly falling over the railing of the staircase.

"Claude? What's going on?"

Okay, I know that this world can't be real since Hilda isn't calling me bitchboy. Never thought that I would be in a situation where I wanted her to call me that, but here I am.

"Uh, nothing," I say.

Oh, who am I kidding? I have no idea what's going on, or what I'm supposed to be doing in this world.

"Nervous about the mock battle?" Hilda says.

"More like forgetful. I've been zoning out for the past few… how long have people been talking about this?"

"Oh, I get it." Hilda crosses her arms. "You're pretending to be incompetent so that _I _have to do the work. Though I'm flattered you're using my tactics against me. I don't think I've tried to be confused before instead of dainty and delicate. I need to try that one sometime."

"Listen, Hilda. I wish I were joking about this."

She studies me. "This after that plan you had to poison the competition?"

"Poison who, now?" comes a voice behind me.

I turn around to see Edelgard in a similar outfit that doesn't look especially official considering that I think this is a military academy. The whole "mock battle" thing, combined with the weapons I see strapped to both Hilda and Edelgard, doesn't leave open a lot of other options.

"Poisoning nobody, of course," I say, flashing a grin. "Because I am nothing if not an upstanding citizen."

"If you do end up leading the Alliance one day," Edelgard says, "Fódlan could go without this trickery of yours."

Alliance? Fódlan? I feel like a real trickster would try to annoy her, so I let out a big yawn and cover my mouth.

"You know what?" Edelgard said. "Fine. Be an incompetent leader. A weak Alliance leader will make it easier for my Empire to exert its will in your local politics."

"_Your _Empire?" Hilda says. "I hope your father is still in good health."

A pause. "He is, but I cannot assume he will last until I am ready to take the mantle of leadership upon myself. The reason I came here is to ask if you've seen Professor Byleth. I need to talk with them about-"

Edelgard is cut off by a grey blur whizzing past the three of us down the steps. They bump into Hilda and nearly knock her over. It's only after they're down the steps and sprinting towards the plant building that I can make out the figure of Byleth. They're wearing tights that reveal a lot of bare thigh, which doesn't seem practical for a military academy, but nobody asked me when designing the outfits. Though I guess it's hard to notice all the skin they're showing with those terrible cut sleeves.

"And there they go," Edelgard says. "Probably off to talk with the Gatekeeper again for Goddess knows what reason. I'll try to catch them later."

"Oh hey Edelgard," Hilda says. "Do you have any idea where Professor Manuela is?"

I raise an eyebrow. That can't be her actual name, right? Unless nobody here knows that it's Spanish for handjob. Though maybe Spanish doesn't even exist here. I need to stop thinking about fantasy languages and how I'm able to communicate with these people or else it's going to hurt my brain.

"Last I saw her, she was in her chambers. Discussing strategy before the mock battle is a good idea, which is why I want to talk with Professor Byleth. But, well…"

Edelgard lets out a sigh and walks off down the stairs after Byleth. It's almost enough to make me feel bad for her. Hilda nudges me with her elbow.

"If you really forgot everything about the mock battle, why don't you talk with Professor Manuela about our strategy?" she says.

"Sure. As soon as I remember where her chambers are."

I begin to walk down the stairs after Edelgard. All the action seems to be happening down there, so at a minimum I should be able to ask about this "Manuela" without looking suspicious.

"Wrong way, Claude." A pause. "Are you serious about not remembering any of this?"

"Uh… maybe?"

"Well, guess I'd better take you to see Manuela, then. She might be able to see what's up with you using her doctor skills."

Doctor skills? In a medieval fantasy world? I don't like the sound of that.

Still, I don't have any better options right now, so I follow Hilda when she walks off and motions for me to follow.

#

We meet Professor Manuela on the way to her chambers, and I recognize her as Ms. Casagranda the choir teacher at the Catholic school back in Iowa. She's revealing a lot more skin around her breasts than would _ever _be allowed in a Catholic school, and I once again am left wondering why that attire is appropriate for a military academy. Plus, doesn't she get cold?

"Ah, Claude and Hilda," she points at us with her conducting baton. "Gather up the others for me, will you? We're arriving at the practice battle site early to plan our formation."

"On it, professor." Hilda tugs on my sleeve and begins walking in the other direction.

Most of the other Golden Deer students are in the official room for our house, which is spacious and nice by the standards of medieval fantasy. Everyone in our faction is the same as in the Catholic school, and from listening in on chatter I learn the main difference is that the people here are grouped together for an actual reason. In this universe, we come from a land of decentralized nobles called the Leister Alliance. From my first impressions, it reminds me of the southern US Confederacy that seceded from the Union, which doesn't give me the most flattering view of this sort of "local power" ideology.

Once we're all gathered in the Golden Deer room, Manuela strides in with her heels clacking against the ground. I try to avoid mulling over how impractical these people's outfits are once again.

"Excellent," Manuela says. "This practice battle should be easy for us. We're up against Hanneman, who can't be torn away from his books long enough to actually teach his students, and the new Professor Byleth."

"What are your impressions of the new professor, Claude?" Lysithea says. "You're the only one who's seem them in action."

"They're… scary," I say. "They fight with the skill of a champion knight but the cagey guile of a mercenary that's learned to survive through countless battles. I think they're going to be tougher than Hanneman."

"Not to mention that we're fighting against the people of Faergus who hold swords at the age they can walk," Ignatz says, "And the people of Adrestia who are training to join the strongest military in the world."

"What is this chitter-chatter I'm hearing?" Lorenz says. "We will win this battle to preserve the pride of the Alliance. It's as simple as that."

"Great," Manuela says. "Lorenz, Claude, Hilda, and Ignatz, come with me to the practice field."

"But-" Lysithea straightens her posture. "Professor Manuela, I'd really appreciate experience on the battlefield."

"Yeah, she can take my spot," Hilda says. "I'm too fragile to be out there risking bruises."

"Nonsense," Manuela says. "I've seen opera singers shyer than you who shine when they're put on a stage."

"Well then, can I replace Ignatz?" Lysithea says. "From a strategy standpoint, it might benefit to have a magic user instead of two archers."

"If she really wants to participate, I'm fine stepping down," Ignatz says.

"My decision is final," Manuela says. "Let's move out, squad."

Lysithea glares at me like this is somehow my fault. I can tell that Leonie and Raphael are also disappointed that they didn't get a shot in this fight, while Marianne lets out a sigh of relief. Lorenz struts around and makes comments about how he will bring glory back to the Alliance, which earns him a veiled sneer from Hilda.

Well, this mock battle is certainly going to be _something._

#

And of course Manuela goes out onto the battlefield in heels.

That's all I can focus on, since we're the first people there. She parks herself on a glowing spot on the ground that she calls a "heal tile" and directs the rest of us to stand out in front. So we're supposed to do all the dirty work for her, I guess?

I identify patches of brush behind a barricade where it should be easy to hide and snipe from afar. I suggest that we all stay behind the barricade, but Lorenz strides out past it and Ignatz follows him after a shrug for me.

Great. So we have a teacher who chooses combatants seemingly at random, and one of those people is determined to sink our chances. Not that I really need to care. I reach for my quiver and fiddle with my blunt-tip arrows.

Hilda joins me, giving no explanation other than a nod. I open my mouth when I see that she's hiding behind a barricade with an axe, but close it when I see that she has several small throwing axes strapped to her. All blunt-edged, of course.

The other houses arrive shortly, with the Blue Lions led by Dimitri and Hanneman taking the northeast and the Black Eagles led by Byleth and Edelgard taking the south. I chill in our northwest area until Byleth's father Jeralt walks up and starts announcing the rules. We're all using nonlethal weapons, and combatants can choose to yield at any point. Additionally, the Knights of Seiros will signal when someone has been hit enough times to warrant their withdrawal, even if they are still standing. The winner is the last class standing.

I walk over to Manuela. "If all we need to do is survive, shouldn't we wait for the Black Eagles and Blue Lions to defeat each other?"

"Not a bad idea, dear. Why don't you pass that on to Lorenz and Ignatz?"

Shouldn't she keep us in line, being the teacher and all? I approach Lorenz and pass along Manuela's message, and he scoffs at me. Ignatz does take a few steps back to adopt a more defensive position, which I guess is something.

After giving us a countdown, Jeralt starts the battle. Only then do I wonder what the fuck I'm doing here in this fantasy world training against my Catholic school classmates. Guess it doesn't hurt to see how this plays out. Time to watch and wait.

The Black Eagles make the first move, approaching cautiously. Byleth brought Edelgard, Dorothea, Bernadetta, and the international student Petra to this fight. Byleth and Petra use blades, Edeglard carries an axe, Bernadetta wields a bow, and Dorothea appears to have no weapons in hand at all. Strange.

I hear Dimitri shout an order for Ashe to engage the Black Eagles and draw them in. Upon hearing this, Byleth puts Bernadetta up in front. She looks terrified as Ashe approaches her with a bow in his own hand. Poor thing.

And from our side, Lorenz yells something about none of my shallow tactics being required and starts to saunter towards the Black Eagles. Ignatz grimaces and follows behind.

"They're going to get destroyed," I say. "Even if Lorenz and Ignatz work with Ashe, it's a three on five."

"Are you saying we should help?" Hilda says. "Because that sounds like a lot of work."

"Nah, let's sit back and enjoy the show. Hopefully the other Blue Lions will take out most of the Black Eagles even when they're down an archer."

Ashe fires a shot at Bernadetta, which slams into her shoulder. She lets out a screech and fires back, and I can see that Ashe took the worse end of the trade. Petra rushes in and delivers another couple of blows to Ashe, after which the Knights of Seiros order him to withdraw.

Byleth directs Bernadetta to attack Lorenz, who is still in the process of charging at the Black Eagles. I can see that Bernadetta panting in panic, but her shot still takes Lorenz right in the chest. Dorothea shoots a bolt of lighting at him, and the Knights order him to withdraw.

I look down at my own hands. Can I use magic in this world? I don't have the same instincts around it as I do with archery, so I'm going to guess no.

Ignatz takes a shot at Edelgard as she approaches, which she shrugs off and attacks him with an axe. Byleth and Petra rush up to surround him, and after a couple more strikes the Knights tell him to bow out.

Just like that, three people down while the Black Eagles hardly suffer any retribution.

They advance towards the Blue Lions, keeping up the same level of expertise. Dedue, who is heavily armored, falls to Dorothea's lightning bolts. Mercedes, who uses a bow, is swarmed by the three melee attackers. Dimitri is pelted by Bernadetta and Byleth finishes the job. Hanneman stays still on his hill, and he's swarmed by the Black Eagles and taken out.

All right, so now it's three against five. I tell myself that at least most of the Black Eagles members are weakened, but they look healthier and healthier while they stay in place. Only when I focus in do I hear Dorothea singing to her injured allies. I guess she's… inspiring them with song?

"I think we need to move," I tell Manuela. "They're planning something over there."

When I glance over, I see that she's already running towards the Black Eagles. Booking it in heels. God damn it.

"Let's go, Hilda," I say. "We're going to lose, but better to make it quick."

While I run forward, I see that Byleth is keeping Bernadetta away from Dorothea's singing while the others look rejuvenated from the sound. It makes me wonder if they _want _Bernadetta to stay in a panicked state. Given the way she tore through the Blue lions with her frantic shots, I can't say I blame them from a strategy point of view.

Manuela is the first one who reaches the Black Eagles, and attacks Bernadetta with a blast of white magic before being surrounded and taken down.

"Like you said, Claude," Hilda says, "Better to get this over with quickly."

She rushes towards Bernadetta as well, throwing a hand axe that catches her in the leg before being surrounded and defeated by Byleth's crew.

This really isn't fair.

Time to go out with a bang, I guess. I take aim at Bernadetta, since she seems the most injured. I can't get close enough without getting absolutely clobbered, but my instincts tell me that I can try to aim the shot so…

I release the arrow from further than normal away. Byleth stands in front of Bernadetta, but the arrow curves around the professor and hits Bernadetta. She stumbles back and falls on her rear. The knights order her to stand down.

I'm pretty sure arrows aren't supposed to curve like that.

I see Petra and Edelgard rushing me. The smug look on Edelgard's face makes the defeat sting more than anything else.

I drop my weapons and raise my hands in surrender.

"Guess our strategy was superior," Edelgard says. "Come out of hiding next time and fight us instead of relying on schemes."

Edelgard's right about their strategy being superior, at least. Everyone on the same page. Baiting in one enemy at a time and then demolishing them with greater numbers. Knowing which people were most vulnerable to magic and using it on them. Intentionally pushing Bernadetta into panic and using Dorothea's singing ability to rejuvenate everyone else (which I don't think is how medieval warfare works, but whatever). It's almost like Byleth had eagle eye vision and knew all our capabilities just by looking at us.

I glance over at Byleth as they approach and are showered by congratulations and thanks from the Black Eagles students.

"I was hoping not to lose any," Byleth says. "I suppose the end result is acceptable."

"Acceptable? You demolished two fucking factions at once."

They shrug. "If that were a real battle, one of my students would be dead. Thank you for teaching me that I need to step up my game. You fought well, Claude. I'd hate to make an enemy out of you."

I don't know how to respond to that, so I'm left blinking at Byleth as they walk away.

Who _is _this person?

* * *

**Heya. Hope you enjoyed part three of me dunking on FE attire. :) Mostly done with school for the term, so my time to write will depend on how quickly my advisor gets back to me about the thesis I'm defending next term lol**

**I needed Claude to be new to the Catholic school so that he feels more like an outsider... which is his whole thing. The tricky part about that is it's hard to justify him being the leader of the Golden Deer as some dude who comes in and gets shoved into their faction. I like the idea that he gets it by default because everyone else is deemed to be incompetent. **

**And it was interesting to see what being on the other end of an FE protag with their ability to perfectly plan and control every fight would feel like. Claude did his best. **

**Also Claude's class list is mine from junior year of high school but with Spanish instead of French and a religion class instead of an elective. Idk what classes are actually offered at elite Catholic schools. **

**Notes:**

-Byleth being nonbinary is a fairly common headcanon, since Byleth goes by "they" pronouns in order to not have the voice actors record sentences with both "he" and "she." Their gender is rarely referenced, and when it is it's always other people assuming based on appearance. So it's quite possible that Byleth is nonbinary. Claude being nonbinary is less of a realistic headcanon; it's just a device I'm using to help him connect with Byleth.

-The Blue Lions and Golden Deer students chosen for the mock battle are the ones that you fight against when choosing the Black Eagles as Byleth. The students Byleth chooses are not the default ones, but are rather the ones I believe are the most effective in this battle.

-Bernadetta's personal ability gives her +5 attack when she's taken damage (or not at full health by other means). We see Byleth using this to their advantage here.

-Similarly, Dorothea's ability heals adjacent allies passively, which Byleth uses here to heal up when they have the space.

-Claude's attack here is meant to reflect the combat art Curved Shot


	4. Chapter 3: Familiar Scenery

After everything calms down and I have Hilda lead me back to where my chambers are in this "Fódlan" world, I hold the Falchion charm in my hand until the steel of the blade turns dark purple. I close my eyes, and my body turns weightless. I'm floating through space, with no sight, sound, or sense of touch. I wonder if this is what being on drugs is like.

When I feel my feet touch ground, I hear a yelp in front of me. I open my eyes to see Ignatz hopping off his bed, fingers trembling as he takes small steps towards me. I'm back in our dorm in the Garreg Mach Catholic high school.

"Well, that was a trip," I say. "Did I fall unconscious, or…?"

"Claude? Is that actually you?"

"I should hope so."

I pat myself down. Yep, I'm definitely here on Earth and corporeal. And I still have my keys and wallet, which is a nice bonus.

"What are the other options besides it being me?" I say.

"I don't know," Ignatz says. "I just… what am I supposed to do when you disappear? I contacted principal Rhea, but I didn't know what to say. Nobody was going to believe me if said that you vanished right in front of my eyes, and you weren't gone long enough to make a missing person report."

"Sorry to worry you. I'm back now, so it's all good."

But what am I going to do if the charm calls me again? The world of Fódlan doesn't seem especially consequential to my life, but training against alternate versions of the people I'm going to school with does seem more fun than whatever I would do here.

"If I do disappear again, don't freak out, all right?" I walk over and pat him on the shoulder. "I've lived through worse than a cursed charm. And it looks like me touching it satiated its appetite."

Ignatz winces. "Could you not talk about a cursed object that way?"

"Sure. Now what time is it?"

I pull my phone out of my pocket and check. 10:24. Well, it's not like I was planning on doing homework anyway.

"Claude," Ignatz says. "What happened on your end when you disappeared?"

"For me, only a couple seconds passed from when I picked up the charm to when I returned in the room," I lie. "I could only tell that it was later due to the sun having set."

"Um." Ignatz gulps. "Are you sure that you're not cursed?"

That's not a bad question, honestly.

"I don't feel any different," I say. "If you're worried, you can go say that I was an awful roommate and switch rooms."

"No, that's okay. I'm just worried about what happened to you."

"Thanks, Ignatz. But I'm fine, really."

His shoulders relax a little bit after that, and we're both in bed within the next hour. Even though I hid behind foliage for most of the practice battle, I guess it still wore me out.

I wonder what more adventures I'll have in the world of Fódlan.

#

The next evening, I tell Ignatz that I'll be messing with the charm again, and I hold it to travel to Fódlan. With some testing, I find that I'm able to travel back and forth as often as I want, but that I can't take anything with me either way. After talking to Hilda and some of the other Golden Deer students in Fódlan, I piece together that I don't have a presence in the Fódlan world at all when I'm back in the real world. Which is rather strange, since I apparently have a whole past here. Maybe there's another Claude out there who was born in Fódlan. But if someone like that exists, why isn't he here at the Garreg Mach Monastery where he's supposed to be training for a leadership position?

Back in the real world, classes go pretty smoothly as we ramp into more complicated material. I can see some of the students like skittles-loving prodigy Lysithea and kitchen menace Annette studying for hours after class to master the material, but I'm good at judging how much I actually need to know in order to get an A. So that's not a huge source of stress for me.

One aspect of school life I do focus on is my social life. Byleth on Earth is a relaxed professor and mostly lets us do what we want in Homeroom, which I use to speed through my homework while checking my answers with Dimitri and his group. Felix tells him not to help me so that their faction can get more points than mine, but every time Dimitri is happy to go over questions with me. He works ahead and normally has the assignments done, which makes me feel a _little _bad, but he doesn't seem to mind. I eat dinner with him often, and he usually brings more people from his faction who aren't too busy. Dedue is silent, Felix always calls Dimitri "pigheaded", Sylvain doesn't stop hitting on girls, and Ingrid doesn't make eye contact with me. It's fun to "accidentally" walk close to her on my way to grab seconds and watch her squirm. Americans' fear of everything brown will always be entertaining to me.

But the culmination of a high schooler's social life in September is homecoming, and I debate if I want to ask someone out. I talk to Ignatz first, who says he's interested in Ingrid.

"So you're going to ask her out?" I say. "Do you have an idea for the proposal?"

His face goes beet-red. "I, uh, don't know what I'm going to do."

"Let me know if you want help or ideas making a poster or whatever," I say. "It's her loss if she turns down someone as nice and caring as you are."

"Um, thanks?"

"Sure thing, Ignatz. Sure thing."

"Do you know who you're asking out?" Ignatz says.

"The first person who's caught my eyes is Dorothea, but I don't know a lot about her. Have you interacted with her much?"

"Unfortunately no," Ignatz says. "She, ah, seems like she'd be out of my league. But you seem pretty smooth, so maybe she'll go for you."

"Well hopefully she doesn't care too much about what 'league' someone is in. I think anyone would be lucky to have you, Ignatz. If you want to go out with Dorothea, I could help you with that instead."

Ignatz sputters. "But you…"

"Am not attached to any particular person," I say. "Besides, I think you'd make a better long-term partner than I would."

Ignatz blinks at me in rapid succession. After silence hangs in the air, I let out a sigh.

"Let me know what I can help with, okay?" I say. "I've got your back, king."

He eventually clarifies that he is still planning to ask Ingrid out, and that he'll let me know if he wants me to help. I'm assuming that means he's trying to get me off his back, and I don't push it. When the time comes, I can still be his wingman. Except I don't identify as male. Wingperson? I don't know.

But I still want to learn more about Dorothea before deciding if I want to ask her out. She seems like an interesting person, to be sure, but I know from being around my parents that interesting doesn't always mean that I'll have a good time.

Then it dawns on me. I need to visit Fódlan for at least a couple hours a few times a week if I want to keep up appearances there, so why not scope people out people there before talking to them in the real world? I'm not going to be a dick to the fantasy version of these people, but I don't think they're quite "real" in the way that the people here are. Though I guess I don't know that for sure. Either way, I'm less attached to them than I am the people of this world, so I can afford to take more risks.

…There's really no way I can talk about this without sounding like an asshole, huh? But at the same time, it's not like I'm about to go Undertale genocide route on these people just because I can. At a minimum, I should make sure that Dorothea doesn't hate queer or brown people before I ask her out.

Because of this, I end up travelling to Fódlan quite frequently. Ignatz doesn't seem happy about it, and I can't blame him for not wanting his roommate to blink into and out of existence every few hours, but he promises not to tell anyone.

During this time, I get more acquainted with the life of a student at the Officer's Academy at the monastery in Fódlan. Evening on Earth corresponds to midday in Fódlan, and I often find myself in lectures and doing assignments from dusty books. How lame is it to escape school after doing homework only to have to do more homework in an alternate reality? Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter may put their protagonists in mortal danger when they travel to magical worlds, but nobody's making Alice or Harry attend two schools at once. And at least Harry gets to do fun stuff with magic while I'm doing kinematics on projectile trajectories to help me train as an archer. The only good news is that kinematics is about as basic as physics gets and I don't need to do much work to excel.

Sundays are our day off from school in Fódlan, and it's the best chance I get to explore the monastery once I'm done chatting with Dimitri and his group of friends in the real world. Most people in Fódlan take it easy, strolling around the monastery eating and fishing and gardening but mostly staying in their little areas.

I say "most people" because every so often I feel the wind rush behind my back and turn to see a gray blur sprinting past me. Long, flapping sleeves and a generous amount of thigh skin stick in my mind each time. It's odd how young Byleth is. And yeah, they're an objectively hot person, so I hope none of their students are attracted to them. I can't imagine having a thing for my teacher. Blegh.

One time they do stop and chat with me when I'm fishing in the monastery pond. They first join me to fish, but catch a dozen in a span of a half-hour before looking at the final one and nodding.

"This is a bullhead," they tell me. "Feeding this to students gives them a faster reaction time and speeds up their attacks. Every millisecond matters on a battlefield."

"Is this some sort of superstition, or have you actually tested this?" I say.

"Ooh, I like you." They smile at me. "Let's say I have my ways of measuring various attributes of students."

I raise an eyebrow. "Nothing too invasive, I hope."

"Come on, Claude. I am nothing if not proper."

They manspread wider, and their bare thighs become more apparent. I don't react, and they laugh after a moment.

"Sorry, sorry," Byleth says. "The judging technique is something I've learned as a merc. You know, how to size someone up based on a single look."

"Pretty sure that's not precise enough to tell if eating a fish makes your students faster."

"And how would you know? Have you ever been a mercenary, Claude?"

"I've met mercenaries, and knights need to be able to size each other up as well."

"True, true. If you're genuinely worried about me invading my students' privacy, ask them. I came here to discuss something different."

I nod for them to go ahead. Every second I listen to a Fódlan native talk is a second I can use to figure out how to blend in with this world.

"You know how we're grouped into two sexes based on our birth?" Byleth says.

Where are they going with this? "Um. Yeah."

"I'm someone who feels like I was put in the wrong body," Byleth says. "Although there's no real _right _body for me. I feel like I should be somewhere between man and woman, and that identity matters more to me than sex organs. And yeah, there are people whose bodies lie in between male and female, but I think I'd still feel out of place in this world."

Does Fódlan have a real concept of gender and intersex people? Color me impressed.

"I'll think of you that way," I tell them. "It's important to support people when they try to express themselves."

"I'm grateful for your acceptance." A pause. "This is going to sound strange, but do you feel the same way, Claude?"

Full stop. How the fuck does this world's Byleth suspect that I'm nonbinary? I'm about as male-presenting as it gets, and everyone else here has used he/him pronouns for me without asking.

"What makes you think that?"

"Like I said, I'm good at sizing people up. Just a hunch." A shrug. "I'm not going to force that idea on you if it doesn't fit you."

Okay, what do I say? Byleth's concern looks genuine, but the way they led their students with perfect commands and claim to be able to tell when a fish increases someone's physical capabilities makes me suspicious. Who is this person, and what do they have up their impractically cut sleeves?

"Guess I do," I say. "Never told anyone that I didn't feel like a boy. Didn't seem important."

"Really. Not anyone?"

I shrug. Byleth checks on their fish basket while the conversation stalls, and then turns back to me.

"My class's mission from Archbishop Rhea this month is to take out the bandits that attacked you," Byleth says. "If we take out their leader Kostas, the rest will scatter. You should be able to rest easy."

Archbishop? I wonder if that means my dear principal from Catholic school is more like a Cardinal or a Pope in this world.

"That's good to hear," I say.

"Each month, I'm allowed to ask for one student to help from another class," Byleth says. "Would you like to join me and strike back against the bandits?"

I take a moment to consider their offer. I don't exactly know what Rhea is having Manuela and the rest of my class do, but this could be my chance to see Byleth's command style from inside. But more importantly, it allows me to spend more time around someone suspicious like Byleth and get more information.

Oh, and Dorothea is in their class. Might as well meet her here before asking her out in the real world.

"Sounds good," I say. "My fingers are always itching to give the 'ol bowstring a go."

"Excellent. You'll still train with Manuela for the month, but I think you'll have a better hands-on field experience in my class. I know that you're next in line to become the leader of the Leicester Alliance, and I think it will be helpful for you to see different examples of how armies are commanded. I think it will prove helpful in judging the lords you will be working with."

"Hopefully that day doesn't come soon, but it's always good to be prepared." I fiddle with my mini-braid. "Hey teach, do you think you could introduce me to Dorothea?"

A mischievous smile creeps onto her face. "Ooh, I didn't know that you were the type of the person who-"

"Not like that. I know she's a commoner, and her background is in singing and opera rather than leadership and military. I'm curious why she's here."

I think I got those details right from what I've been hearing about all the students. It's hard to keep track of two versions of everyone in my head.

"You don't have to make excuses, Claude," Byleth says. "I needed to talk with her about something anyway, and it's fine if you tag along. I trust you not to be an inc-a womanizer, but be sure to read the room, all right?"

I raise my eyebrow. Were they about to say "incel?" I don't imagine that sort of vocabulary seeping over into fantasy worlds, but I suppose most words came from slang at some point. Guess I have to watch out for medieval fantasy incels, then.

#

I follow Byleth as they sprint off towards the main entrance hall of the monastery. I have no idea where they get the energy to burst into top speed and maintain that pace, but I want to see my world's Byleth try that in the Catholic school. Every so often I hear my world's Seteth yelling at kids about running in the halls while they scramble from one classroom to the next, and I'd like to see the look on his face when the legendary grey blur zooms past him before he can even open his mouth.

When I make it to the main entrance a few seconds behind Byleth, panting and wiping the sweat away from my brow, I see Dorothea chatting with an armored knight. She talks in a doll-like voice I'm certain is faked, and the knight seems completely enamored with her. They arrange another meeting time and the knight walks off. Byleth approaches her and I stand a few steps back. Dorothea lets out a sigh and flinches once she turns around and sees Byleth.

"Um, hi professor," she says. "How much of that did you see?"

"Enough. I hope I don't need to remind you that you are training to be a knight, not a spouse."

Even in conversation, Byleth goes straight for the heart. At least it forces Dorothea to react in a way that will allow me to better gauge her and the norms of this world.

"Oh, so we're not allowed to have personal lives, now?"

Dorothea twirls a lock of hair around her finger. Damn, why do I find that so cute? Gotta keep my horniness under control.

"Listen, Dorothea. You're a great student, but I have low tolerance for bullshit. It's clear that you're leading him on. That you want something from him. You're lucky enough to be here, so why not focus on building your own strength and finding your own success?"

"Spoken like a mercenary."

Byleth raises an eyebrow. "And that means…"

"With all due respect, professor, our bodies aren't going to carry us forever. Let's say I do train to be a warrior. What happens when I grow old and weak, when nobody can use me to kill their enemies or finds me alluring? The others will inherit noble houses. You'll still be a professor here. What's left for me?"

Silence falls. I think this is the first time I've seen someone be a match for Byleth, and I feel myself smiling.

"The same thing will happen if I continue my opera career," Dorothea says. "When I'm no longer a pretty little thing to be plucked by a rose, nobody will want me. So please, professor, let me secure my future. I promise I'll keep up with the others in my training."

Byleth lets out a sigh. "I suppose that's fair. I wasn't trying to stalk you, by the way. I mostly wanted to talk with you about changing your focus from swords to faith magic in addition to maintaining a focus in reason magic. Your skill with the blade is impressive, but you don't have the strength training or the speed to back up your good form."

Dorothea scrunches her nose. "Faith magic is about the last thing I want to study, professor."

"I have a feeling you'll learn to like it. You can channel your spirituality through singing. Just give it a try."

"I suppose that's all I can do, isn't it? Don't expect quick results, though."

"Of course. I'll check in with you later about course materials." They glance over their shoulder at me. "Oh, and Claude here is joining us in hunting down the bandits this month. I'd like him to be more familiar with how we work as a group, so if you wouldn't mind introducing yourselves…"

"Heya." I wave at her. "Congrats on the victory in the mock battle."

"Greetings." Her eyes narrow at me. "Perhaps you'd be better of talking with the nobles of the Adrestian Empire? I don't have much to offer you in terms of connections."

"Well, that's one way of telling that I genuinely want to know about you and your class, right?"

"I'm sure the two of you will get along great," Byleth says. "Gotta go to the marketplace and buy new weapons for our mission. See you around."

They go darting off, running in between two priests having a conversation. I take the opportunity to walk closer to Dorothea while she's tracking Byleth sprinting away.

"Your professor is… interesting," I say.

"I was hoping for Manuela, honestly. She was a big inspiration to me when I was doing opera. But I can't deny our new professor's effectiveness."

"Manuela does seem quite talented. Songstress, professor, medic… I wonder how she has the time to learn all those skills."

I see Dorothea's face light up. "Exactly. It's criminal how she has no luck with men."

We spend a few minutes talking about Manuela's numerous failed relationships. Dorothea talks about them as if the men in question were expecting a diva and dipped out once they saw the real, messy person beneath Manuela's glamorous surface. And honestly, she's probably right. Sure, Manuela drinks and her room always looks like someone set off a grenade, but I'm guessing these people who dated her didn't care about all of her accomplishments, skills, and positive qualities.

But more importantly, talking about Manuela helped me see deeper into who Dorothea is as a person. In particular, I noted the way she focused on worrying that Manuela would end up alone and unsupported for the rest of her life.

"That's what I fear for myself as well," I say. "It's hard to find someone you mesh just right with."

"I'm not sure your position is the same, Claude. People will want you for your wealth, for your power. You'll be surrounded by people trying to stay in your good graces once you take over the Alliance."

"And isn't is possible to still feel alone when you're surrounded by other people?"

Dorothea looks away. "Some people can't even worry about that because we might be left behind before we get to that point."

Ugh, I wish I could talk to her as the Claude Riegan who worked at McDonalds to pay for his groceries instead of Claude von Rigan, the heir to the Leicester Alliance that Dorothea sees me as. And if I could explain more of my identity to her in a way that she could understand, we could connect over the barriers placed in front of us. But in this world, I can't be that person.

It makes me wonder if Dorothea in my world is the same. Maybe I'm not alone in looking to the dark future and begging for the world not to cast me aside when I venture out on my own.

Knowing that the possibility exists solidifies my decision to ask her out to homecoming.

#

After preparing a card back in the real world, I get the jump on the homecoming proposal and ask Dorothea on a Saturday when I noticed her alone in the study room of the dorms. It's a couple weeks before homecoming, but I know what I'm going to say, so I don't see any reason to put it off.

She greets me when I step inside, making a comment about how I look like I haven't gotten any sleep. It's easy enough to blame homework even when spending multiple hours in Fódlan most days is the real culprit for having no time. We talk a bit about how much homework the school assigns.

"Hey Claude," Dorothea says. "Are you Catholic?"

"Nope. What tipped you off?"

"It's your… aura. When I chat with you, it doesn't seem like you're surrounded by guilt and repressing all your desires."

Wow, I didn't expect to find this much religion-hating in a Catholic school. Still, if this is her way of coping then I can lend an ear.

"Edie's the same way, you know," Dorothea says.

"You mean Edelgard?"

"Whoops. Hard not to use nicknames. Though you're in the clear, since 'Claude' is hard to nickname. You know, being one syllable and all."

"Hilda's nickname for me is 'bitchboy,' so I'm not especially concerned with what you'll come up with."

She lets out a laugh. "I'm sure I could come up with worse."

"In these Catholic halls, though? Best make sure to look over your shoulder to see if Seteth is listening."

Eh, guess I'm not immune to mocking Catholics. Nothing against them, but it's not my fault they make it so easy.

"So why are you here, if you're not Catholic?" I say. "I can tell you that my mom forced me to attend here so I would learn to hate religion more."

"Sounds like a smart woman." Dorothea flips open a math textbook. "I'm here for the _education, _Claude."

"But why here? It doesn't seem like you're from a rich family, but I also don't get the impression that you're a local."

A sigh. "I'm from the south, along with most of the Black Eagles students. And yeah, I'm paying with my own money."

Most of the Black Eagles are from the south? Strange how they all talk in standard northern US accents like I do.

"A lot of rich people send their kids here," Dorothea says. "This is a place with _history. _I thought…" she trails off. "I don't know if I should say that."

I think back to Fódlan Dorothea wooing the nameless knight. "You want to meet someone here?"

Her cheeks flush red. She's one of those people who looks cute when embarrassed.

"I got a lot of money and fame from being a child songstress and actress," Dorothea says, "But it's a scary place. Best to have powerful people on your side, don't you think?"

"Of course, of course. No judgment from me. I know how Hollywood and record companies toss women aside the moment they aren't the youthful symbol of conventional beauty so that they can move onto the next set of girls."

She raises an eyebrow. "Are you saying that to get on my good side, or…?"

"Maybe. But it's also true, isn't it? I think it's great that you have the foresight to realize the transition you need to make."

"It's okay, Claude. You can call me a gold digger if that's how you feel."

"Aren't we all trying to survive in this world that wasn't made for us? I don't hate Dimitri or Edelgard for being born into wealth, so why should I hate you for theoretically marrying into it?"

She examines me. "You're a curious boy, Claude. It's a little uncomfortable for me to be around you, actually."

I don't bother correcting her about my gender. "Uncomfortable?"

"I do my best to reduce myself to being a pretty face around boys. It's easier to deal with them that way. But you refuse to see me like that."

"I do think that you're attractive, if that matters."

"I can tell, but…" she runs a hand through her hair. "Why do you see me as a person, Claude? Isn't it easier to see me as a pair of tits?"

"I'd like to think it's because of empathy. It might just be because I'm desperate to be accepted as well."

A smirk. "You do a good job of hiding it."

"As do you."

Dorothea leans towards me. "I've opened up about my motivations, Claude. Now it's your turn. Why are you such a strange boy?"

Did I manage to steer the conversation exactly where I wanted it to go through subtle manipulation? I doubt it. I'm not sure why I feel like everything's okay, but I do know that I don't want this emotion to end.

"For starters, I'm bisexual like Edelgard and nonbinary like our dear homeroom teacher. That, combined with being half Persian, makes it tricky for me to feel like I fit in wherever I go."

Her face lights up. "I'm bi as well. And I apologize for calling you a boy, then." She puts a finger on her chin. "This is starting to make a lot more sense, actually. No wonder you're different from the boys I know."

"No worries. But that's not what makes me fear the loneliness. I think the main factor there is me being aromantic."

"Aromantic?"

"Yeah. I don't experience romantic feelings at all."

"But you're still attracted to people if you're bi, right?"

"Right. I want to fuck people as much as the next guy, and I do want to make a long-term relationship with someone. But I want it to feel like BFFs instead of Romeo and Juliet."

"If you're into sex and not romance," Dorothea says, "It's going to be hard to be around these repressed Catholics."

"Eh, I'm not really interested in sleeping around. Right now, I'm focused on trying to make friends. Which is why I'm wondering if you'd like to go to the homecoming dance with me as a friend."

Silence falls over the room. After a few seconds, Dorothea lets out a laugh.

"Claude, do you get nervous about _anything?_"

"Of course. My parents didn't tolerate me showing it."

"My god, Claude. I was not expecting that." She catches her breath. "You know, most homecoming proposals are supposed to have a poster or something showy or-"

I take the handmade card out of my pocket and slide it to her across the table. I gnaw on the inside of my mouth as she flips it open and starts to read it. Everything I wrote in there about how her American Idol and other musical performances clearly came from the heart was true. After about a minute, she draws a deep breath and looks up at me.

"I didn't want something showy because I don't want you to feel pressured into saying yes," I tell her. "And either way, I hope we can be friends. If you have your heart set on someone else, don't let me stop you from asking them instead."

"Claude."

"Hmm?"

"You are _fucking _insane. Yes, I'll go to homecoming with you." She leans back in her chair and grins. "Think of what all the rich kids will whisper to each other about with the two of us going out together."

"Hey, that's just a nice little bonus. It's also beneficial for you to come off as mysterious if you want the rich boys to fall for you, and this way you don't even have to deal with them directly to cultivate your aura."

"Guess it really is a dream come true. Well, let's rock this thing, Prince Charming. Let me know if you want practice dancing."

#

I do take Dorothea up on her offer a couple of times before the homecoming dance. She's obviously much better at dancing than I am at the end of it, but she does compliment how quick I'm learning. It feels strange to be playing a male role in each of the dances, especially since I'm supposed to lead the motions even though Dorothea is the one with the actual expertise, but it beats bugging Ignatz in my room after I'm tapped out on what the monastery in Fódlan has to offer.

The Catholic school is small enough that we're holding the ball in the gym room where the dance classes are taught, which actually looks pretty nice once it's decked out with emblems from our three factions and the music is set up. I see Ignatz getting dressed up early, and he tells me he's going out to get dinner with Ingrid before the dance starts. I pat him on the back and wish him good luck. He looks nervous and the stiff suit jacket he's wearing doesn't do him any favors, so hopefully she finds that endearing.

I knock on Dorothea's door before the dance begins, and when she opens it I see that she's decked out in red. Bright lipstick, a dress made out of red silk, and heels that clack on the floor as she steps out. I consider asking if she'll be able to maneuver in them, but after remembering her musicals where she's able to run and swirl in heels, I close my mouth.

"No anime hat today?" I say.

"Good thing we're going as friends and I don't have anything riding on this," Dorothea says. "Otherwise I'd have to slap you for that."

I let out a laugh. "See? Everything's more fun when we can be relaxed about it."

We make our way to the dance floor and start dancing along to the music. Most of the music they're playing is pop with a bit of good 'ol Christian Rock sprinkled in; not exactly the proper dancing music that Dorothea trained me on. Still, I let myself get lost in the grace of her movements as we swing along to the beat. Whenever my motions are off, she's able to pull me in just the right way to set me on course, making me look much better than I am.

I take a look at some of the other pairings. Dimitri is dancing with Edelgard, and he definitely looks like he's struggling while Edelgard is making up the slack. Poor Marianne got stuck with Lorenz, and Hilda's dancing with the quiet kid Dedue from Dimitri's Blue Lions faction. I bet Hilda just likes how she can boss him around without him talking back. Ignatz shows up with Ingrid, and his face is tense as he goes through the dancing motions. I hope Ingrid can see that he's trying his hardest.

I'm surprised at how many of the teachers and staff are here, but I guess it makes sense that they'd monitor us at a Catholic school. Dorothea steers us clear of both Principal Rhea and Vice Principal Seteth, swinging and moving in ways that takes us away from them. The only teacher I see missing is Byleth. I ask Dorothea about it in between rounds of dancing, and she shrugs.

"They told me that they were going to be out this weekend. I don't know where they are."

When the music quiets down enough that we can hear each other, Dorothea looks at my neckline and I remember that I'm wearing my Falchion pendant. She watches it as it sways back and forth while I dance, and she continues to perform all the necessary dance moves with little effort.

"Never seen a charm like that," Dorothea says. "Where did you get it?"

I explain how Lucina gave it to me back when she was a combination of my babysitter and an old friend. Dorothea frowns when I mention that she left for a faraway land and didn't keep in touch.

"You never heard from her again in the age of cellphones and the internet?"

"It's strange to me as well. I even stalked all of her social media accounts, which don't have any posts in the last six years. It's like she's vanished off the face of the earth."

"Still, I'm glad that you had a close friend up until that point." Dorothea looks at the ground. "One day, I'll tell you more about my past. But I don't think now's the time."

When she looks back up at me, her eyes widen. When she takes a step back, I look down at my Falchion charm and see the dark wisps coming off it.

Shit.

"Claude, is that a magic trick or-"

"I don't know why it does this. I, uh, should maybe step outside. Get this all sorted out. But, uh, the last time this happened it took me a few hours to work through."

"Okay…" She glances around. "People are going to going to notice something weird and ask questions. Do you want me to create a distraction for you? I can spill one of the lemonade pitchers on 'accident.'"

"Do you seriously not mind that I'm bailing on you in the middle of a dance?"

"Your charm looks like it's about to summon a demon, so I'll do whatever it takes for that to not happen. Besides, we're not doing this romantically, so I'm more cool with you dipping out."

She adds a wink at the end. I'm stuck between heart fluttering and wishing I had more friends like her.

"Thank you so much, Dorothea," I say. "A distraction would be great."

I do my best to cover the charm without touching it, since I don't want to vanish right in the middle of the dance room where everyone can see. When I hear the shouts by the drinks area and see lemonade spilling onto the floor by Dorothea, I take my chance to exit the dance room. I jog through the halls back towards my room.

When I make it back to my room and close the door behind me, the wisps of darkness are large enough that it's hard to see in front of me. Normally I need to hold the charm for about a minute to be transported to Fódlan, but this time the world goes black without me even touching the necklace.

#

I'm floating in emptiness, and then I find ground. I blink awake back in the Garreg Mach Monastery to hear someone banging on my door.

One of the perks of alertness training is that I can take in my surroundings in a glance. I'm in my own room in the Fódlan monastery, which isn't exactly where I was when travelling back to the real world last time. I run over and open the door to see Dorothea in her military outfit with her anime hat on. It takes me a second to recalibrate to the fact that this Dorothea isn't the one I spent the evening dancing with.

"Come on, Claude. We're about to head out on our mission. Professor Byleth is waiting for you."

Shit, that's happening now?

I rush over to the meeting point at the monastery, where the rest of the Black Eagle class is. Byleth and Edelgard brief us on our mission. Apparently we're going to a place called Zanado, where the bandits that attacked me a month and a half back are cornered. The Knights of Seiros will be present to provide support, but this is going to be the first real test for the Black Eagles class. Caspar looks a little too excited while Linhardt dozes off; Ferdinand announces that he will uphold his noble honor while Hubert tries to shut him up; Bernadetta panics and hides under a desk while Dorothea squats down to talk with her and Petra processes what Edelgard and Byleth are saying. They're all like more animated versions of the people I know from high school on earth.

Transportation to Zanado goes surprisingly quickly, and before long we're preparing for battle. Byleth has ordered battalions to follow some of the students, which can be used to provide general support and can use "gambits" such as charge attacks a limited number of times. Byleth tells us that they'll say when to use these gambits, which seems a bit overkill. But then again, my house did get destroyed in the mock battle, so maybe there's a method to their madness.

The battle starts before I come to grips with how I could theoretically die here. I'm assuming if I go down, I don't magically get resurrected in the real world. Maybe I should steer clear of Fódlan after this mission.

I do take it easier than some of the others. When Linhardt kills his first bandit with magic, his face goes white and he recoils at the blood spray. Dorothea mutters something about killing being an odd church doctrine after she chars a bandit with lightning. Bernadetta freaks out, which is fair given the wound on her arm. I suspect again that Byleth did this on purpose to activate Bernadetta's panic reflexes. Byleth orders us all individually, and we begin to advance further into the bandits' domain.

The bandits seem awfully uncoordinated, and Byleth's able to lure in small groups before having us swarm and eliminate them. Byleth knows exactly which special techniques we're able to use, and they order us to strike individual bandits at the right time so that none of us go down. Brutal, efficient, calculated. They seem to know exactly when bandits will go down and how hurt we are, having Dorothea and Linhardt heal us whenever we get hurt.

The first time I get wounded is when Byleth commands me to step out in front to lure in an enemy archer. She attacks from a greater range than I can retaliate, and my vision flashes red when the arrow slams into my chest. I hesitate when Byleth tells me to yank the arrow out, since I know it will cause more bleeding, but I do so when Dorothea approaches and feel a cool sensation wash over my while my wound closes.

Damn, we need healing magic in the real world.

Byleth's voice booms across the battlefield as we approach closer to Kostas, leader of the bandits. It's what keeps us all in line and what prevents us from freaking out as we walk across bridges connecting chasms and fight for our lives. I know I should be panicked at this point, but this barely feels more real to me than the combat training my mom put me through. I deal the killing blow to a couple of bandits with my bow, and I tell myself that these people aren't real. I'm not sure I believe it, but it's something to distract myself with in between following Byleth's orders.

Maybe I'm a natural-born killer. That's a thought that will keep me up at night.

Kostas digs in his heels and stands his ground while we pick off the surrounding bandits and approach him. Byleth has me and Bernadetta attack from long range to wound him before sending Edelgard in for the kill. The entire process is calculated enough to be surgical.

That's it. Outmaneuvering and outfighting a group of bandits when we're outnumbered is as easy as that. We killed them all and I'm not even fazed. I debate checking in on Linhardt and Bernadetta after the fight since they both seemed pretty shaken by being forced to kill other human beings (which is probably a healthier response than me being weirdly okay with it), but I pause when I see that Byelth is doing their best to make sure that all the students are okay. Hubert, Ferdinand, and Caspar definitely didn't seem to mind the killing part. I make a mental not to keep an eye on them in the real world.

I approach Byleth after they're done making sure the students' wounds are patched up and that they feel supported in talking about their experiences. They look up at me as I approach.

"Thanks for your help, Claude," they say. "Your assistance helped make sure that all of us stayed safe."

"Thanks, teach. Now I get it when you talked last time about being frustrated to see one of your students go down. How do you deal with the thought that you might-"

"That my order might lead someone to their death?" They put their hands over their chest. "This is my first time commanding people in a real battle, Claude. I don't know how people get used to it."

Well, they could have fooled me about this being their first time. Considering how notoriously chaotic battlefields are, Byleth commanding a bunch of kids with no combat experience and having us all follow along is nothing short of a miracle. I learned some tactics from them about baiting and swarming enemies, but it really does seem like Byleth has a third eye that lets them see how skirmishes will play out under different scenarios.

Well, hopefully that won't matter any longer, since I don't plan to be a part of this murder-happy world for any longer than I need to. I walk off when nobody else is paying attention to me and grab onto my Falchion charm until I feel the sensation of floating.

Goodbye, Fódlan. Hopefully forever. I'd say it was too short, but I learned plenty about fighting and killing in my short stint there.

#

I appeared back in my dorm room. Nighttime again. I glance around to see Ignatz on his bed, typing away on his laptop. I clear my throat, and he looks over at me. Makes eye contact.

Then he lets out a shout.

"Uh, Claude? How long were you there?"

"Few seconds. How did the rest of the dance go without me? Do you think you and Ingrid are-"

"Oh my gosh I need to call Dorothea. She was so worried about you."

"Ignatz, you don't need to-"

He pulls out his phone. Instead of dialing the number, he stares at his lock screen. After I frown at him, he shows me an emergency alert that popped up about fifteen minutes ago, according to the timestamp. It says something about a death in the area.

"Gnarly," I say. "I hope it's not anyone we know."

Ignatz opens the alert and starts scrolling through.

"Not someone associated with the school," Ignatz says. "I do recognize him, though. He's a robber who's been making the rounds in the few towns around here recently. My parents called to warn me about him a few weeks back."

And that's the difference between most people's parents and mine. To my mom, a robber in the area is my chance to either hone my stealth skills or a demonstration as to how capitalism is supposedly heralding the collapse of our society. Yeah, I don't understand why she thinks crime only exists under capitalism either.

"Well, what's his name?" I say.

"Kostas."

I blink. Then I ask Ignatz to repeat the name. Kostas. It can't be a coincidence that he died in the real world right when he died in Fódlan, right? The times of death even match up almost perfectly. No other fatalities were recorded on Earth despite the fact that we killed about a dozen bandits in Fódlan, but Kostas's death still leaves my head spinning.

If the people I care about die in Fódlan, do they die on Earth as well?

* * *

**Hey, everyone! :D This is kind of a monster chapter, but that's what happens when I do the school dance arc at the same time as the killing bandits arc. As most of you know, there's a ton of content we have to get through. **

**I knew that Claude wanted to ask Dorothea out, but the way their dynamic turned out just kind of... happened. It's always interesting to see what happens when I shove two characters together. **

**Also my personal headcanon for Claude in FE3H is that he's aromantic like in my fic here. He's super flirty and charming in game, but we never really see him have any desire to get romantically involved with someone, even if he's emotionally close with them. In my mind, this explains the Claude-Byleth S support that many people found disappointing where he travels off to Almyra, promising to return. He clearly cares about Byleth, but his emotional engagement seems to come from a different place than romance. **

**Notes:**

-The Byleth fishing thing is kind of a meme due to how easily you can catch fish and how much time some players spend fishing. Personally I just grinded for bullheads lol

-Speaking of which, bullheads are an item that, when cooked, give +1 speed to all units for the next month, which is commonly considered to be the most important stat in the game. This bonus can be applied once per weekend and stacks, so I usually roll up to battle with +2 or +3 speed on all my units. This is what Byleth is describing to Claude

-Dorothea's conversation with the knight and the following dialogue is based off her C-support with Byleth

-Byleth switching Dorothea's focus from swords to faith/healing magic is a strategic choice that reflects what I did in the game. Dorothea doesn't have the stats to be a swordfighter, and even a 3-range levin sword+ isn't super useful compared to thoron. So swords are kind of useless. Dorothea has a budding talent in faith, meaning that she starts off weak but learns much more quickly with a little investment. I'm representing that here by having Dorothea hate the faith training initially while Byleth knows that it will grow on her.

-Byleth baiting in small groups of enemies at a time during the Zanado battle is a basic strategy that's helpful in basically every fire emblem game

**Review Responses:**

**Genie: **I'll respond in PM lol since idk when you're going to make it here


	5. Chapter 4: Mutiny in the Mist

After scouring the internet, I come to the conclusion that none of the other dead bandits in Fódlan led to deaths in the real world.

Because sure, lots of people die every day in car crashes or heart attacks and the bandits _could _be those unlucky souls who got claimed that day, I don't think that lines up. Kostas died in the local area, and was known as a thief in both Fódlan and Middle-of-fuck-nowhere, Iowa. If the bandits were represented by people in the real world who died, surely they'd be associated with Kostas.

So why Kostas and not them? The easiest explanation is that Kostas exists in both Fódlan and Earth, while the bandits don't. So I need to be worried about anyone who's in both worlds dying in Fódlan.

And that's… basically everyone I know at this school. Great.

After the revelation that what happens in Fódlan could mean life or death for my new friends, I resolve to keep tabs on what's happening over there. The day after we killed Kostas, I travel back to Fódlan and track down Byleth. Everyone recognizes them as the legendary grey blur that sprints past people before they have a chance to respond with more than a "hey!" However, the fact that they tear through the monastery like it's a 100-meter sprint means that keeping up with them is next to impossible. I stumble into them by chance on their way to the northern part of the monastery with the cathedral.

"Hey, Claude," they say. "I'm kinda busy right now, so do you think we could talk later?"

No sweat, no stopping to catch their breath. Byleth really is a machine.

"Do you know what your mission is going to be this month? I'm curious if you're going to get the most dangerous one again."

"I'm on my way for Rhea to explain that to me. Want to tag along?"

Sounds like not only an opportunity to plan for Byleth leading people I care about into mortal danger, but also to see what Rhea is up to. I've never met the principal of my school back in Iowa, but here she seems like the religious leader of the entire continent… and from what I can tell, religious authority supersedes that of kings and emperors. Probably not a bad idea to size her up.

"Follow me if you want," Byleth says. "Try to keep up."

I'm in good running shape, but it's hard for me to maintain Byleth's pace. Part of it is that I run around groups of people while Byleth often barrels right through. I imagine my dad's look of shock if I were to so much as trot through a mosque, and I feel myself smiling. Either Fódlan's religion is laxer than in the real world, or Byleth is so effective at what they do that they're kept around in spite of their faux pas.

I eventually reach the room where Rhea and Seteth are talking with Byleth. Both of them look up at me when I enter. At least it gives me time to catch my breath.

"The one time I'm not around to bust you for schemes," Seteth says. "You choose to join us in discussing sensitive military information instead of going crazy making poisons."

"Your words could mean the death of my classmates," I say. "Kick me out if you want, but now's not the time to blame me for caring about what's going on."

"I think it's fine, Seteth," Rhea says. "Most of the world already knows about our… issue. And it will be good for young Claude to see what the church's response is to those who are foolish enough to point their blades at the heavens."

Yikes. The cold smile she flashes is really the cherry on the top.

But what does Rhea mean? I'm guessing there's an uprising of some sort. From what I remember, the medieval church usually had the buy-in from common people who truly believed that they needed to follow religious authority to go to heaven. So someone resisting Rhea and the Church of Seiros must be…

"Recent word is that Lord Lonato is raising an army to rebel with the help of the Western Churh," Seteth says. "We'd like you to quell it."

"Who is that?" Byleth says.

Seteth frowns. "Ah, yes. I forget that you're not well-versed in Fódlan politics. Lord Lonato is a noble from the Kingdom of Faerghus. He's not especially powerful, and has no real chance of overthrowing the church, with or without the assistance of the Western Church."

Sounds like a guy with nothing to lose, then. I wonder what happened to push him this far.

"But like Claude suggested, we are assigning you the most dangerous task," Rhea says. "We want our students to gain experience, but they should be protected. To ensure their safety, we are placing you under the watch of a seasoned Knight of Seiros."

I hear footsteps behind me and turn to see a woman in plate armor, minus helmet. I recognize her as Catherine, one of the security guards who occasionally roams around the school back in Iowa.

My first thought is that she's wearing boob plate, which I know is ineffective and might put her in danger due to directing stabs to the center of her chest where the heart is. My second thought is that she looks really good in armor, and that if she weren't way older than me I'd totally be into her. My third thought is that if she's both in Fódlan and Iowa, I need to work on keeping her alive as well in addition to my classmates.

You know, why did this task of making sure two worlds go smoothly fall to a horny teenager like me?

"Hey there, professor," Catherine says. "And Claude. Wasn't expecting you."

"Guess that makes us even," I say.

She laughs. "You have a good class this year, Lady Rhea. Thank goodness your students have a little confidence and personality."

"Some of them could learn restraint," Seteth says, crossing his arms.

"Ah, you worry too much." Catherine turns to Byleth. "How about it, professor? Let's kick some ass together."

"I'm happy to indulge you in some ass-kicking, but I'm responsible for the lives of my students," they say. "So forgive me if I'm a bit more reserved."

"Sounds like you're already a better leader than I am." Catherine runs a hand through her hair. "I'll cut a path through the enemy and let you deal with the scraps. If you want to control a battlefield, it will be easier with your enemies in disarray."

Byleth nods. "I'll follow your lead, then."

"Awesome." Catherine claps Byleth on the back. "This is going to be a blast."

I'm not sure that Byleth needs to follow anyone's lead. I'm still convinced that they can see deeper than the traditional tactics Manuela is teaching me. Or maybe it's madness that pushes them to have Linhardt take a nap in the middle of battle.

"Remember, Catherine," Seteth says. "We're trusting that you won't let your personal history get in the way. Not that we doubt your loyalty, but I'm sure there are some… complicated emotions that may interfere. Do not let them."

"Yeah, yeah. I got that out of the way when I dealt with-"

I hear the doors burst open behind me, and look over my shoulder to see Ashe running in. In Iowa, he was the one I dubbed as "the wholesome rogue," but I don't know how much of that holds true here. He brushes past me as he scurries up to Rhea and bows.

"Oh, hello Ashe," Catherine says. I'm not sure why her voice wavers.

"My apologies, Lady Rhea," Ashe says. "I got the news about my father, and I heard you were talking about him, so I-"

"Catherine, how many times do I need to tell you to lock the door behind you?" Seteth says.

"I did." Catherine looks back at the open doorway. "What the fuck?"

"Ashe." Rhea's voice is soft but stern. "I can sympathize with your predicament, but this is official military business."

"Then why is Claude here?" Ashe says.

Good question.

"And can someone explain to me what's going on?" Byleth says.

"Lord Lonato is Ashe's adopted father," Seteth says.

Shit. I mean, I guess it's not too surprising for any given lord to have a kid in the Officers Academy, but that really sucks for Ashe.

"Again," Rhea says, "My heart goes out to you, but the best thing we can do right now is to keep you out of the situation. As you know from previous incidents, we don't judge people for the crimes of their family."

Ashe balls his hands into fists. "Cristophe wasn't the type of person to-"

"Can we discuss this later, Ashe?" Catherine says.

"And you." Ashe turns to face her. "What gives you the right to say that, Catherine? I don't want to hate you, but you're making that difficult right now."

Okay, so there's definitely a history between the two. And who's Cristophe? Someone related to Ashe and Lonato, going off Rhea's implication.

"I'm sorry." Ashe draws a deep breath. "I know I'm not being professional. I'm here to ask you to take me along with you, professor."

"I know this must be difficult for you, Ashe," Seteth says, "But-"

"This isn't a decision I'm making in a fit of anger," Ashe says. "Lonato might listen to me. If I can convince him to surrender, we could save hundreds of lives. Isn't that a risk worth taking?"

"I trust Ashe," Byleth says. "With your blessing, Lady Rhea, I will take him along."

I notice Catherine raise an eyebrow, but she doesn't make a comment. Seteth's mouth tightens when he looks at Byleth, and I wish I had my phone on me to snap a picture of it.

"If you believe he will help keep the peace of Fódlan, then I will allow it," Rhea says. "But remember that you may only ask one student from another house for assistance during each mission."

"This means you can't tag along, Claude," Byleth says. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah. I'm not going to get in the way of this."

Plus, I think I've learned about all that I can from Byleth's tactics. Enough to know that I'll never be able to replicate them, anyway.

"Thank you, professor." Ashe bows to them. "I promise you won't regret this."

"Let's talk sometime before the mission, all right? I want to make sure that your emotions are in a healthy place before stepping onto the battlefield."

Mercenary, tactician, therapist. What can't Byleth do?

#

I check in on Fódlan every day and continue training in archery and authority under Manuela, but there's not much else for me to do there. Maybe I should be the one trying to make sure that everyone stays safe, but I don't know if I can insert myself into a leadership position that's more than Golden Deer house leader. A quick chat with Catherine in Fódlan while she's visiting the blacksmith tells me that she's determined to charge straight into danger. And if Rhea, Seteth, and Byleth can't stop her, then what chance do I have?

So I end up spending most of my effort in the real world. My AP classes start to ramp up in difficulty, but academic things tend to click for me and as a result I have some free time to roam around the school and get to know my classmates better even as I'm spending multiple hours in Fódlan most days.

The person I pay attention to the most in the real world is Ashe. He seems more downcast than usual, but it's not like I knew him especially well beforehand. One day on Earth I see him eating alone in the swanky private-school-money cafeteria, and I take the opportunity to pounce.

And by pounce, I mean politely ask to sit down with him.

We eat in silence for a few minutes, but he perks up a bit in my presence. Eventually he starts asking about my life. People always find my upbringing interesting, so I give him the 'ol rundown. Ashe asks most of his follow-up questions about my parents, which is expected. It's not every day that an uber-conservative Muslim and American patriot combination marries a rich Manhattan girl turned off-the-rails anarcho-communist. I run him through the story of how my dad used to take me out to rural Washington every once in a while, and how it always ended in him tying me to a horse and having it drag me around while my mother watched on and laughed.

"Thanks for sharing with me." Ashe looks down at his food. "I always appreciate hearing about people's parents since…"

"Since?"

A sigh. "My biological parents are dead. And I fear… ah, never mind."

There it is. I gnaw on the inside of my mouth to stop myself from jetting straight for the question about his adoptive father Lonato.

"Was it traumatic for you," I say, "Or were you too young to remember?"

"Too young. I'm sure I sustained some, ah, memories from the orphanage, though."

"You don't have to talk about it if it's painful," I say.

"That's not the part I'm thinking about, really." Ashe looks up at me. "It's a lot of personal stuff I don't want to dump on you."

"I'm happy to talk about it with you. I know that there are some things that hurt more when you try to box them up and shove them away."

A pause. Neither of us touch our food for a good minute.

"I guess it's not exactly private information," Ashe says. "Have you heard about the guy in Massachusetts threatening to attack Catholic churches?"

I rack my brains for a second before shaking my head. I should look at the news more often.

"That's my adoptive dad Lonato," Ashe says. "It got the attention of a lot of people on social media because he's not trying to gun down regular people like a terrorist. He's after the Catholic clergy."

What are you supposed to do when your dad threatens to murder a bunch of people? Even I don't know what to say to that.

"I called him to convince him to stop, of course," Ashe says, "But the line was dead by the time I tried. The church is powerful enough to get him prosecuted based on those threats alone, and he went into hiding knowing that."

I nod along. I've heard stories of people who the church ruined for much less. Teenage girls they pushed out and let starve because they weren't virgins.

"That sounds really difficult to deal with," I say. "What can I do to help?"

A deep breath. "Talking about it makes me feel better."

"Should I ask clarifying questions to keep the conversation going?"

"Please."

I get to provide emotional support for someone in need and learn more about how closely the situation is tied to what's going on in Fódlan? Always nice to kill two birds with one stone.

"Why does your dad have it out for the Catholics?" I say. "Is he Protestant? Atheist?"

"He was Catholic. Now, I don't know. He hates them because…" Ashe glances around. "I don't suppose you've heard of my brother Cristophe? He was implicated in the 9/11 attacks back in 2001."

That went from zero to a hundred rather quickly. Well, more like from ninety to a hundred, since we were already talking about Ashe's father gunning down Catholic priests.

"To be clear," I say. "Your brother is American, right?"

Ashe looks down at the floor. "Yes, he was."

Was. Oh shit.

"A bunch of Catholic priests testified that he had inside knowledge of the attack and worked to make it happen," Ashe says. "They didn't have any evidence, but it was enough to get him detained indefinitely."

"Doesn't surprise me. A lot of brown people were detained following 9/11 without any cause and kept from their families for years. I heard stories of people who were beaten and starved. And this isn't just Muslims, either. A lot of Sikhs were targeted as well."

"I didn't know that," Ashe says. "I'm not sure if I should feel better or worse that my brother wasn't alone in his suffering."

Hell if I know. I don't have any wisdom to offer, so I sit there and let Ashe mull over his thoughts in silence.

"He was found dead in the detainment building," Ashe says. "The guards said it was suicide. My father didn't believe them."

"Do you?"

Ashe meets my gaze. "No. I think my brother was murdered."

"And the Catholic priests were responsible for getting him in that situation to begin with." I lean forward in my chair. "But why did they hate him specifically?"

"I don't know. My father seemed to have some knowledge, but he didn't share it with me. I didn't want to probe."

"Of course."

Silence falls again. After a few minutes, Ashe starts eating his food again. I join, even though my meal is cold. Still better than my mom's cooking, though I think that throwing a sandwich into a blender would result in better food than my mother makes.

When Ashe gets up to leave, he thanks me again for listening. After I hear him leave, I slouch back in my chair. It's not just people dying in Fódlan that have effects in the real world. Large events like Lanato's rebellion spill over as well. Or is it the other way around? Do actions here in the real world determine what happens in fantasy Fódlan? I suppose it doesn't change my approach either way, since I have the power to protect people in Fódlan but not here in Iowa.

I hear footsteps approaching me. Living with two volatile parents taught me to distinguish between people walking past me and people walking towards me, and this is definitely the latter. I pretend not to notice until Edelgard and her personal stan Hubert circle around the table to face me.

"Whazzup, Edie," I say. "How are those class rankings looking?"

"We're winning, as usual. And who gave you permission to use that nickname for me?"

"You don't complain when Dorothea calls you that." I bob my hair in an attempt to look dainty. "Am I not pretty enough to pull it off?"

I see Edelgard's face flush, and Hubert puts a hand on her shoulder.

"This isn't what we're here to discuss," Hubert says. "Claude, were you talking to Ashe about his father?"

All right, Hubie here is going to be a problem. Not being able to direct the conversation where I want it to go is going to make this more difficult.

"I don't believe it's any of your business what we talked about," I say.

Hubert chuckles. "Be that as it may, Edelgard has some words for you about Lonato."

"Yes, indeed." Edelgard clears her throat. "Are you aware of what happened to Ashe's brother?"

"How he got framed for the terrorist attacks and detained? I blame that more on the Bush administration than anyone else."

"Of course. I'm sure you have a connection to what happened in Abu Ghraib as a result of his actions."

I take a deep breath. I've seen the pictures. Naked, terrified, shivering people crowded into areas. Piled up on each other. Bodies twisted until they break. Tortured. Assaulted. Killed.

And my father still supports the US Military, even after seeing that this is what they do. Even after seeing that torture, rape, and murder are what the military _is. _

"No more personal connection than you or Hubert," I say. "Quite the opposite, actually. The Iraqis invaded my people back in the 90s, which the US supported. But I still care about people suffering."

"Then you should care about Cristophe's legacy," Edelgard says. "About Lonato."

"My heart goes out to Cristophe, and I can sympathize with Lonato's pain," I say. "But murdering priests isn't going to solve the world's problems."

"Agreed," Edelgard says. "You have to go for the cop d'état."

"I don't like the sound of that."

"Tell me, Claude. How much pain has been caused by Christians over the years?"

"That's just because people are shit and most people here are Christian."

Edelgard flashes a thin smile. "How about Catholics, then? Back in the little Catholic town in the south where I'm from, our church was influential enough that an endorsement from the clergy was enough to elect someone to local government… or to unofficially exile them."

"A Catholic town in the south? You sure you're not talking about Maryland?"

"Quite strange, isn't it? They always talked about being oppressed by Protestants, but they were the real monsters. How do you think they took it when I came out as bi?"

"No better or worse than the Protestants."

"Oh, so it _is _a Christian thing."

"Tell that to the Muslim Middle East and secular East Asia. Homophobia is a feature of human civilization, which is where it bleeds into the Abrahamic religions."

"I don't especially care where it comes from," Edelgard says, "When the Catholics use who someone is as an excuse to bludgeon them. It's not just gay people, either. Everyone's made to feel like who they are is wrong so that they _need _the church. That's how it keeps rolling."

"People in power abuse that power by any means possible," I say. "Not exactly the revelation of the century, and Catholics aren't worse than anyone else. The question is, what are you going to do about it?"

"Excellent question indeed." Edelgard puts a finger on her chin. "You know, Rhea's a lot more than a simple high school principal."

"Where is this coming from?"

"She has a lot of influence in the Catholic community. All unofficial, since Catholicism is also sexist and doesn't let women hold important positions, but still."

"Check your white feminism, Edelgard. You're sounding a lot like the US Government when they invaded the Middle East to 'save' brown women from brown men."

She sneers. "Except I'm using it to bring justice to people in power, not exploit vulnerable people abroad for imperialist and capitalist ends."

"I don't think this is going anywhere," Hubert says. "Clearly you were mistaken about Claude, Edelgard."

"The point is that you should watch out for Rhea," Edelgard says. "Just a warning."

At that, she gets up and struts away. The intimidation of her huffing is diminished by her 5'2" height, and I stifle a laugh. Hubert glares at me with the one eye that isn't covered by his black emo hair and follows her.

All right, I no longer have an appetite. I get up to throw the rest of my food away, and when I turn around Dimitri and Mercedes approach me. Mercedes is another student from Dimitri's Blue Lions faction that I've given the title "volunteer Catholic." She's that type of Catholic who spends her weekends helping out in soup kitchens and building homeless shelters, unlike most of the rich kids at this school. She also talks in a sing-song voice that I find vaguely annoying. Maybe that makes me sexist, but oh well.

"I hope it doesn't look like we were spying on you," Dimitri says. "The Blue Lions wanted to invite you to watch Jeopardy with us since Ingrid can't be here tonight, but we, ah, didn't want to approach during that conversation."

"I do appreciate you defending us Catholics, though," Mercedes says. "People tend to forget about all the good we do."

"Just so we're clear, I'm not really a fan of the Catholic Church," I say. "But edgy atheists like Edelgard annoy me just as much."

"Who doesn't annoy you, then?" Dimitri says.

You know, that's a good question.

"Still want me for Jeopardy?" I say, glancing at Mercedes.

"Of course," Mercedes says, smiling at me. "And I can help explain all the ways our church helps out the poor and needy."

"I'm not going to convert, so if that's your motivation then forget it," I say.

"And maybe don't talk about it during the show," Dimitri says, "Unless you want Sylvain rolling his eyes at you and twisting your words into crude jokes."

"I don't mind him," Mercedes says. "He just feels angry at the world."

And that… excuses his actions, somehow? Whatever. I've argued with basically everyone I've talked to today, and I'm not trying to push that any further. Jeopardy sounds like mindless fun that will take my mind off people I know potentially dying at the end of the month when Fódlan Byleth goes on their mission to take down Lord Lonato.

#

I sit in between Ashe and Dimitri in the social lounge while the Blue Lions faction minus Ingrid and Felix watches Jeopardy with me. Ashe's freckles are pretty cute, but I get straight vibes from him and I'm sure he has enough problems without worrying about my attraction. Why is everyone at this school so hot?

In the real world, the weeks pass as normal. I tune out Hilda in all of my classes, study with Dorothea while going over answers with Dimitri, and keep tabs on Ashe. He's definitely worried, and I'm not sure how much of it is fear of his father being hurt and how much is fear of his father hurting someone else.

The Fódlan world also passes by as normal while I count down the days until Byleth goes off to face Lonato. The waiting is worse than it was before the bandit fight because there's nothing I can do to help people if they get into danger. Dorothea, Ashe, or any of the others might die if Byleth makes one misstep in their commands. Their skill as a tactician makes me think they have some sort of supernatural abilities, but I know they're not perfect from how I took out Bernadetta in the practice battle. If that happens on the field…

I distract myself by convincing Manuela to let me learn how to fly a wyvern instead of her training me in authority. The wind whipping past my face, the way that the trees look like miniatures on the ground, my heart racing because I know that one slip is all it takes for everything to end… it's something I can control, at least. And it's something challenging enough and requires enough focus that I can't linger too long about how my friends might be marching towards their deaths.

Then the day comes. Our class' mission is to fight some bandits raiding a town on the eastern border of the Leicester Alliance. Backing us are Alois and Shamir, two knights of Seiros. Alois is the dad-joke-mongering older knight that I recognize from when he discovered us during my first trip to Fódlan when Byleth and Jeralt saved my ass. He explains the mission to us while Shamir sizes us up, never speaking a word. I remember them both as security guards in Middle-of-fuck-nowhere, Iowa, same as Catherine.

Our primary objective is to protect the town, and when we arrive we position defensively to protect the gates. The attacking pirate ships don't have cannons and instead try to land and meet us face-on. Alois, Shamir, and Manuela, and their legions do most of the actual combat while we pick off the stragglers. This is pretty easy for me since I'm an archer. Hilda tries to stay with me on the back lines, but even she doesn't disobey when Alois calls on her to start helping. I expected Shamir and her iron stare to be the one ordering us around, but she seems content to engage enemies on her own. While also in heels. Why do people in Fódlan dress like they're part of an anime?

Alois and Shamir are able to control the fight, especially since most of the pirates are untrained. The pirates yell something about being the Almyran Navy, which scares the townsfolk into cowering back. I have no idea what an Alymran is, but the moment I hear those words a bitter taste enters my mouth. Something deep down in me _knows _that no matter who these pirates are, they aren't Almyrans. When some of the other Golden Deer students hesitate, Shamir assures us that their words are a bluff, and an "obvious" one at that.

The rest of the fight goes smoothly. Lysithea the fun-dip-loving kid genius blasts enemies that get past the Knights of Seiros, Lorenz charges them while yelling something about honor and nobility, and Ignatz pelts them with arrows by my side. The others chip in work as well, with Leonie the non-depressed horse girl being the most levelheaded alongside Lysithea while Lorenz and Raphael charge at the enemy with entirely too much zeal and the others hesitate in fear.

It doesn't take much effort for the pirates to give up and retreat. The town rewards us for protecting them, and Alois gives the money and supplies to Manuela so that she can use them to get us better weapons and equipment for future missions. He also makes some comment about how the merchants of the port town weren't good at "trading blows," which I tune out. It still nags at me how I had such a visceral reaction to the pirates saying that they were Almyrans despite knowing nothing of Almyra. Just another oddity with me knowing how to wield medieval weapons in this world, I suppose. I continue to ponder Almyra on the way back so that I don't have to think about what's happening to Byleth and the others.

When we return, Byleth is already back. Everyone from the Black Eagle house is okay, but I don't see Ashe. I ask Byleth, and they do their best to calm me down.

"He's safe and uninjured," they tell me. "After we were forced to kill Lonato, he didn't talk the entire way back. He's in his room now, and I don't think we should disturb him."

At this point, Caspar runs up to Byleth and comments about how cool Catherine and her weapon Thunderbrand were. From his frantic description, it sounded like she carved a path through Lonato's entire army on her own. It takes multiple minutes for Byleth to shoo him away. He's definitely the type of person to get in a fight and then post it on TikTok.

"Was she actually that powerful?" I say.

"I wasn't disappointed; I'll say that much." Byleth cocks their head. "It's a good reminder that my students still have a long ways to go. Though there was something else that bugged me. There was definitely something… personal between her and Lonato. Something about her turning in his son."

"Not surprised. Were the two of you able to keep deaths down?"

Byleth shakes their head. "Lonato refused to surrender, no matter how much Ashe pleaded. I feel terrible for Ashe, but I'm not sure if there's much I can do."

"I don't think there's much either of us can do."

At least, in this dimension.

Byleth thanks me for checking in on them, and after some small talk about my mission I let them rest. It must be exhausting to manage a bunch of teenage recruits knowing that one slip could result in someone's death.

I travel back to the real world and scare the shit out of Ignatz, as usual. I check the news on my phone and get a breaking alert that Lonato was killed by police after resisting arrest. Guess Fódlan violence spilling into the real world is ironclad enough to make the cops shoot white people too.

I go over to the messaging app I've been using to communicate with people at this school and bring up my conversation with Ashe. I begin to type:

_Hey Ashe. I assume you heard the news._

_ I know that my dad's dead, yeah._

_How are you doing? I'm here for you._

_I'm doing pretty terrible. But thanks, Claude._

_Is there anything I can do to support you?_

_ I'm not sure…_

_Let me rephrase that. What can I do to help? I'm going to do _

_something, and I need your help so I don't make everything worse._

_Hm… I guess it helps just to know that you care._

_Should I come over to your room? Is your roommate there?_

_ I have a single. And I don't know…_

_Do you want space, or do you want a hug?_

_I'm taking your silence as "space." Is it okay if I check in with you tomorrow?_

_ …A hug might be nice._

#

A few minutes later, I knock on Ashe's door. When he opens it, I see that his eyes are puffy. The first thing that I notice in his room are a vase of violets on top of his mini-fridge. Most of the flowers look like they're drooping, but a couple stand strong. He runs a finger over the petals as he walks over and picks up a worn book off the rug in the middle of his dorm room. I recognize it as "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (French names are stupid, including my own). He flips through the stiff pages too fast to be reading any of it before tossing the book onto his bed.

"I didn't think anyone was going to choose me," Ashe says. "Not when I came bundled with my two younger siblings. Not when the adults at the orphanage told everyone I had a habit of picking locks and stealing whatever I could from them. And I did the same with visitors. I snuck into their cars and took what I could. Do you want to guess what was in the back seat of Lonato's car?"

"The book?"

Ashe nods. "And nothing else. I tried to take it anyway. Because, you know, it could be worth money. That was when he caught me in the act."

I can see where this is going.

"He started reading it to me right then and there. I was drawn in from the beginning, with how it talked about grownups never accepting anything fanciful or fantastic. Then, when he got to the prince and his rose, Lonato gave me a choice. He said I could keep the book and try to sell it for money, or that I could come with him and he could teach me how to read it."

I run a finger over my Falchion charm. Isn't it funny how it's always the random objects that hold the most worth for us?

"An easy choice, I imagine," I say.

"He even agreed to take my younger brother and sister along. His birth son Cristophe was nothing but kind to us. And Lonato was, too. Occasionally stern, but only because he wanted us to be the best people we could be." Ashe draws a deep breath. "Now they're both dead."

"Are your younger siblings okay?"

"Yeah. Lonato sent them to a boarding middle school and is having my aunt and uncle be our legal guardians now."

"That's a small blessing, at least," I say.

"I guess that's about all I can hold onto, isn't it?"

"You can hold onto me," I say. "Figuratively and literally."

I extend my arms in question. Ashe gulps and nods.

I'm surprised at how strong his arms are when he throws them around me. When I hug him back, I feel him trembling. I rock him back and forth, realizing after a few seconds that I'm mimicking what Lucina did with me whenever I started bawling as a snot-nosed kid.

"You're safe here," I say. "I'm here for you, Ashe."

"I don't get it," he says. "Why? None of the others from the Blue Lions messaged me. Why do you care when we barely know each other?"

"They will message you, once they get the news."

I'll make sure that happens, one way or another.

"But still," he says. "Why do you care?"

Maybe it's only because I knew he could have died and I'm grateful he didn't. But if that's what gets me to care about people who are hurting, so be it.

"There doesn't always need to be a reason," I say. "I'm here, and I'm with you. The why doesn't need to matter."

Ashe relaxes in my arms. And in this moment, that's enough.

* * *

**Pour one out for my text formatting during the part when Claude and Ashe message each other. This dumb site wouldn't let me align left or add extra spaces so whatever.**

**Oh, and I also want to make it clear that Claude has a lot of spicy takes, and that those are not necessarily representative of my own views. Except for his opinions on boob plate. Those are 100% my own. **

**Notes:**

-I'm going to continue to make the "haha Byleth sprints everywhere with no regard for their surroundings cuz that's what the player does" joke and none of you can stop me

-Sikhs getting targeted and detained by US officials was a real thing (that started even before people knew who was responsible for the 9/11 attacks!). I watched a whole documentary about it for a class. Course it's terrible that a bunch of Muslims got detained, but fewer people know that they weren't the only ones targeted.

-Abu Ghraib was a town in Iraq where the US Military and the CIA detained, tortured, assaulted, and did other unspeakable things to a bunch of people.

-In the following lines, Claude references the Iran-Iraq war, where Iraq invaded Iran in the 90s in an attempt to bolster the strength of Saddam Hussein's unstable regime. The US and most western European countries unofficially/indirectly supported Iraq and Saddam Hussein (the clear aggressors) while Iran was left to defend for itself. This war was known for being devastating for the people of both countries.

-I'm personally not a fan of Mercedes' English voice. Sue me (please don't).

-Flying is a super useful skill for any unit, but Claude learns it quickly and can easily get alert stance+ to become a ridiculous dodge tank. I included some in-character justification for this.

-Claude's mission here is based off Alois' and Shamir's paralouge. Alois' "trading blows" joke was so amazingly terrible that I had to include it.

-Ashe having violets is a reference to violets being one of his preferred gifts.

-In the game, Ashe has a book about knighthood that he bonded with Lonato over. I decided to change it to "The Little Prince" instead of a book about knightood in the real world because... well, I wanted to.

**Review Responses:**

**Genie: **via PM

**Guest: **Thank you! :) I hope the realworld aspects continue to be interesting for you.


	6. Chapter 5: Goddess' Rite of Rebirth

It's right when Ashe starts to show signs of returning to his normal self a week after his father's death when I'm walking around downtown Middle-of-fuck-nowhere and feel the presence of someone following me. My mom tracked me whenever I went off on walks through the woods in the area outside Seattle (the Pacific Northwest is beautiful, by the way. Make sure you visit at least once in your life), so I learned pretty quick to trust the tingling sensation in my spine that tells me someone is stalking me.

I glance around the streets but see nobody out of the ordinary. The feeling persists, and I make the executive decision to head back to the dorms using the main roads instead of going off course into the nearby meadows like I normally do. As I stuff my hands in my coat pockets and walk off, I kick myself mentally for not having brought my handgun. Who knows when Creepy McCreepface will show up again?

I look behind me every so often, and one time I catch a sweeping motion from a dark cloak in one of the alleyways. Probably nothing, but I pick up my pace anyway.

Right as I'm leaving the downtown area, I stumble across Byleth in their regular outfit with those itchy-looking leggings, stupid dangling sleeves, and navel window. They study my expression, look behind me, and squint their eyes.

"I think we should get you back to school," they say. "Is it okay if I lead you to my office?"

I agree. Not that this Byleth probably has the same kickass skills as Fódlan's version of them, but anyone stalking me is less likely to leap out of the shadows with a knife while there's another witness.

Yeesh. As if I didn't have enough to worry about.

#

We make it back to Byleth's office without incident. Once we get there, Byleth opens a drawer attached to their desk, nods to themselves, and closes it.

"Why don't you come over here, Claude?" they say, motioning to the far side of their desk. "I'll want you to be away from the door and behind cover, just in case."

For how serious Byleth is taking the situation, I'm surprised at how calm they are. Normally I can tell when a teacher is putting up a strong front for students, and Byleth's posture lacks the stony stiffness from an educator out of their element in a dangerous situation. I follow their instructions, noticing that their gaze is fixated on the door. What exactly do they think is going to happen? I haven't told anyone about my run-in with Creepy McCreepface.

"I don't anticipate any issues," Byleth says, "But if something breaks out, hide behind the desk. Don't move until I tell you to."

"Don't worry about me, teach," I say. "I'm not the type of person to flip out if gunshots start going off."

I'm not trying to look at the monitor screen, exactly, but I catch the word "Illuminati" on one of the tabs they have open. Is Byleth planning to bring conspiracy theories up in class, or is this a personal interest of theirs? Either way, it's a little odd. I can't help myself from looking at the other tabs they have open. There are a few on different gun shops and weapon profiles, which doesn't surprise me.

What's more interesting is the tab next to Illuminati on anthropomorphic lizards, and another on shapeshifter folklore. Looks like Byleth here is definitely looking into conspiracies about lizard people shapeshifters pulling the strings of government, which raises the question of why. I can't imagine that they… believe any of that stuff. Right?

My stupefaction continues when I read the tabs to the right of the Illuminati one, which are searches, articles, and encyclopedia entries about specific people. Their names are John Ridge, Elias Boudinot, Samuel Worchester, Jeremiah Evarts, and Selu. I don't recognize any of them, and I make a note of them for future reference.

"It seemed like you were aware that someone was following you," Byleth says.

I look back over to see them studying my expression. What is going on inside that head of theirs? Hopefully not more wild conspiracy theories.

"A necessary skill when you have… interesting parents."

Byleth nods, and I can tell they catch the cue that I don't want to talk about it further.

"Do you know who was tracking you?" they say.

"Nope. Didn't stop long enough to find out."

Technically true. From the weird vibes I suspect Creepy McCreepface, but I don't really know it was him. And honestly, I don't especially care who it is. Byleth pauses, staring at me just long enough for the silence to grow awkward.

"Well, I hate to reinforce bad news, but I urge you to stay safe," Byleth says. "We try to be a friendly community, but you're starting to pick up on the darkness beneath the surface."

Wow. That doesn't sound ominous at all.

"I've noticed that compared to other students, you spent a lot of time away from the school."

"Is that odd?" I say. "Leonie takes weekend trips in her 25-year old car all the time."

"But she tells everyone where she's going, and she doesn't disappear for multiple hours every day on weeknights."

I shrug. "This place is no Seattle, but there's enough to explore if you know where to look."

"I believe you. I'm not looking for answers about where you've been, Claude. But maybe tell someone when you're going out? Or even better, go with a friend. It would make me feel better."

So what excuse can I pull out of my ass this time? Because Byelth is right. I'd be an idiot to spend so much time wandering alone when Creepy McCreepface could be behind every corner. But obviously I can't tell them that I'm going to an alternate dimension every time I disappear.

"And I don't know if you believe me," Byleth says, "But I have reason to suspect that the person who was tailing you has it out for you specifically."

"And what is that reason?"

I do my best to keep my voice steady. Byleth must know more about what's going on. What role do they play in all of this? If Creepy McCreepface sent me to Fódlan, there's the possibility that Byleth is in cahoots with them. And when they opened their drawer… the tabs on their computer… They must have at least one gun in their office.

The logical part of my brain is telling me that even if Byleth did mean me harm, here isn't a good place for blood to fly against the wall. What I need to watch out for is if they offer to take me out to an empty field somewhere.

"It's hard to explain," Byleth says. "Something about the way they were following you."

So they don't want to reveal their hand yet. Fine by me.

"Thanks for the warning, teach," I say, "And I understand why you might be worried about me. But I can take care of myself. Honest."

Byleth lets out a sigh. "I know you kids have ways to sneak around me if I try to enact measures that keep you here. Just know that I won't feel responsible if I find your cold body in a ditch after this."

Their bluntness is so surprising that I almost laugh. I guess Byleth really is a well-meaning but passive-aggressive parent at heart.

"Your smile concerns me, Claude."

"Like I said, I'll stay safe. Was there anything else you wanted from me, Teach?"

"You implied that your situation with your parents is complicated. Do you have any plans on what to do about Thanksgiving?"

You know, that's a good question.

"I guess I'll stay here, if that's possible."

Byleth nods. "I think some of the other students are as well. Dining halls will be shut down, so let me know if you need cooking lessons."

"You say that like teenagers aren't going to rely on Doritos and Mountain Dew."

"I prefer not to give into stereotypes. Perhaps I am overly optimistic." They flash a warm smile. "It's good to see you making friends, though. I know it can feel tough to make connections when it's hard to fit in, especially at a Catholic school."

"Is this about me being bi and nonbinary?"

"That's the lens I'm looking through. There are plenty of ways that people feel different that may be more or less important to you. I just worry about my queer students since we're often the ones who are the most vulnerable if shit goes down. So I'm happy you're making connections."

"My mom says I'm too friendly. Guess it pays off sometimes."

"For you and for others." Byleth pauses. "Thank you for comforting Ashe, by the way. I feel a bit guilty about the whole situation."

"Guilty?"

"I should have been the one there for him. Thank you anyway, Claude."

I pause before nodding. In Fódlan, Byleth was the one who carried out Lonato's execution. Are they responsible for his death in this world, too? There's so much I still don't know.

"Of course. Don't feel like you need to do everything, Teach. We've got your back."

"That's good to hear. Stay safe, Claude. Mind if I walk you back to your room? I don't think our pursuer is nearby, but it never hurts to be safe."

I can't think of any good reason to say no, so I agree. On the way to the dorm room, I pass Linhardt sleeping in the common room. From what he posts on his social media accounts, he seems to do a lot of digging into random topics. It's mostly genetics (the one that comes to mind is him captioning an article about the _couch potato _gene in _Drosophila _with "mood"), but maybe I can rope him into my search on Byleth's conspiracy theories.

Byleth waves goodbye once I enter my dorm room. I see Ignatz studying away for his calculus midterm with a pile of crumpled papers on his desk. I'm fascinated by his angry mutterings because I pictured him as the type of person incapable of feeling rage, but I can't stare without looking weird and I have my own matters to attend to.

I don't know what Byleth was looking for with the conspiracy theories, but I can start with the people they were googling to see if they're Alex-Jones-level conspiracy theorists. I brace myself for bullshit about lizard people and chemicals turning frogs gay.

But what I get seems to have no connection to the Illuminati bullshit Byleth was researching. John Ridge and Elias Boudinot were both notable figures in the Cherokee Nation during the time of Cherokee removal (early-mid 1800s) who supported removal in order to get the best terms from the US Federal Governemnt. Samuel Worchester was a white missionary to Cherokee lands who stayed with the Cherokee during and after the Trail of Tears when the Cherokee were forced to march across America to their new home in present-day Oklahoma. Following the high death toll of the Trail of Tears, Ridge and Boudinot were both assassinated by radical Cherokee nationals. Gnarly stuff.

Those three fit together, but the other two figures are a bit more tangential. Jeremiah Evarts had no direct connection to the Cherokee themselves, although he was known for opposing the Cherokee Removal Act and advocating for Indian rights in general. The most interesting of the five is Selu, who is more of a mythical figure than a historical one. She's known as the "first woman," "corn mother," and "corn goddess." From what I can tell she's divine with human characteristics kinda like Jesus from Christianity, and similar to other religions is seen as being a sort of progenitor figure (though in Cherokee lore, men predate women and Selu was created to keep men in check).

So what do these people all have in common? Relation to the Cherokee during the time of removal, perhaps, but where does Selu fit into that as a mythical figure? And what do these people have to do with lizardmen conspiracy theories? Of course, it could have been two separate topic that Byleth is researching, such as what I suspect about their googling about weapons, but those are some pretty specific subjects to be researching at the same time. I do some quick google searches about conspiracy theories within 19th century Cherokee involving Selu but find nothing. As to be expected, I suppose.

Some people say that the mark of a true genius is knowing when you're outclassed. I don't actually know if anyone says that, but it makes me feel better as I walk into the common room and approach Linhardt. He's napping when I enter, but blinks awake and yawns when I get close.

"Is it dinner time already?" He rubs his eyes and looks up at me. "Oh hi, Claude. You actually going to do homework for once?"

"Like you're one to talk. I have something I was hoping you could help me with, actually."

"Sounds like work." Linhardt leans back in his chair. "Thanks, but no thanks."

"You mean you're not interested by our professor at all?"

I was hoping to get a reaction out of him, but he keeps his face neutral as he smooths out his collared shirt.

"They're quite an enigma, but not as much as the human genome."

"Didn't we figure that out over a decade ago?"

Linhardt looks at me like I'm an idiot. "So if I showed you a series of 1s and 0s, you'd instantly know how a computer works?"

Okay, that's not actually a bad analogy for why knowing a DNA sequence doesn't tell you everything about what's going on.

"Byleth's into some weird conspiracy theories, and I thought you might find it interesting to see what our dear teacher is up to. It has something to do with notable figures from the Cherokee removal period."

"Well, you're out of luck. I'm not in fact a scholar on Cherokee history. In fact, I'm not a historian at all and I won't get far without being able to read Cherokee."

"Most of their important documents have English versions. I know you can hunt down scientific sources like a shark smelling blood, and I'm asking you to do use the same methods in a slightly different field."

I don't actually know if Linhardt is good at finding scientific sources, but he's my best hope right now. I'm not going to approach Byleth about this until I know I can trust them.

"If they don't talk about it in class before Thanksgiving, I can look into it," Linhardt says. "Will give me a good excuse to ignore my dad. But don't expect anything crazy, Claude."

"Great. Thank you so much."

"Don't thank me until I produce results."

With that, he yawns and closes his eyes. He's back asleep within a couple of minutes, his chest rising and falling like a baby's.

Catholic school kids are an odd bunch.

#

In Fódlan, all the talk is about an assassination plot against Lady Rhea that was found on Lord Lonato's body. I haven't been visiting Fódlan as much to catch up on real world homework, so I get the details a bit late. All three of our classes are assigned to protect Lady Rhea during a ceremony called the Goddess' Rite of Rebirth, along with the Knights of Seiros. Seems like that leaves our defenses thin in other was in case someone wants to sneak in, but nobody asks me.

Actually scratch that, someone does ask me. Byleth approaches me while hauling a bucket full of bullhead fish and asks me what my thoughts are about this month's mission.

"I don't really know why we're needed," I say. "Shouldn't the Knights of Serios have it covered? At some point, we'll only be getting in the way."

"Exactly. Edelgard and I think that the whole thing is a ruse so that the people puppeting Lonato's revolution can sneak into the Holy Mausoleum."

"And what do they want with this Holy Mausoleum? Looking to raid some tombs?"

"We were thinking more along the lines of holy artifacts. Maybe there are even heroes' relics down there."

Heroes' relics, huh? I file that away for later research. Seems like all I do these days is look stuff up.

"So what do you say, Claude?" Byleth cocks their head at me. "I promise it will be more interesting than patrolling the Goddess Tower."

The more I see of this Holy Mausoleum, the better idea I have of this world's religion as a whole. That helps me fit in better. Plus, if I get some info about precious artifacts, it might help me unravel some of Fódlan's secrets. I don't know exactly what I'm after yet, other than keeping my friends alive in this world so that they don't die in the real world, but more knowledge never hurts. Yeesh, watch me grow up into an academic.

"Do Rhea and Seteth know that you're doing this?" I say.

"Nope. But you can play dumb if they ask you and I'll take the blame."

Well, I was going to do that either way, so it's nice that Byleth won't hold that against me.

"I'm in, then," I say. "If shit does hit the fa-" I pause, realizing there probably aren't fans in this world. "If shit does hit the wheel, I'm trusting you to keep us safe."

"Always, Claude. I'm not going to let a single one of you die."

They pat me on the shoulder, which I'm almost certain is a violation of something or other for a teacher to be doing, but I appreciate the gesture. It's strange, feeling like I can trust someone else to keep me safe. I haven't felt this secure in my own skin since the times I spent with Lucina as a child.

After Byleth leaves to cook some fish to improve their students' reaction times or whatever bullshit pseudoscience they subscribe to, I go to the library and start looking into the Heroes' Relics that they mentioned.

It's not hard to find a general overview. The relics are powerful weapons that require a crest to use safely, and are even more powerful when someone with a specific crest matching the weapon wields it. Which of course leads me to looking up crests, which apparently is quite an active field of research. Each person can only have one crest, and I piece together that its inheritance obeys simple Mendelian genetics, with the presence of a crest being the dominant allele. So it's kind of a "you have it or you don't" thing instead of mixing. Simple enough. Though there are major and minor versions of each crest that I don't really understand the genetic basis of. Maybe I could ask Linhardt.

These crests contain divine power within them, as do the associated Heroes' relics that were gifted to the people of Fódlan by the goddess. Many prominent noble families have their own crests due to being descended from the ten Elites, warriors favored by the Goddess who unified Fódlan under the lead of the King of Liberation.

And as luck would have it, my bloodline is one of those. My mother Tiana Riegan bears the Crest of Riegan, and according to official records so do I. This means I can use any of the heroes' relics safely, and have special affinity for the legendary bow Failnaught.

This is all useful information, but it leaves me annoyed at how simplified fantasy origin stories for powerful artifacts are. Oh yeah, they were gifted to humans by the Goddess Sothis because humans are super cool. That makes total sense. If this alternate reality was knowingly constructed, I want to fire the person in charge of worldbuilding.

It's also not entirely clear from the records what these Heroes' Relics are made out of. It seems odd that nobody has tried to recreate these relics by using the same materials. At least with more looking I get the information that all relics need to have an associated crest stone that provides magical power to the relic. Maybe it's the crest stone that can't be reproduced, then, since it needs to have a certain amount of magical energy to power the weapon? I suppose I could always ask Professor Hanneman for more information, since I know he's interested in crests.

Given that there are only twelve known Heroes' relics in existence, I can see why it would be a big deal if some people were to steal one from the Holy Mausoleum. Of course, the church records don't indicate that any relics are down there, but if there _were _Heroes' Relics then I doubt Rhea would be advertising it to the world.

If I do see a powerful artifact down there… I don't know what I'll do. I still feel like I don't have enough information or sway to do much in this world. I hope Byleth is able to keep me safe until then.

#

One nice thing about being at a boarding school is that we get a full week off for Thanksgiving so that we can go home and see our families. I, of course, have no intention of visiting either of my parents, so I'm stuck in the dorms of a Catholic school while the rest of my rich classmates are back with their rich parents in their rich homes. Honestly, I think I'm getting the better end of the deal here by not having to be around so many rich people.

The Friday before the weekend where Thanksgiving break begins, Linhardt approaches me while I'm finishing up an assignment with Dimitri in the study room.

"I got bored more quickly than expected and tackled your problem, Claude," he says. "Do you want to hear the results now, or is it not something you want us to talk about in public?"

Dimitri looks over at me. "What are you up to, Claude? Nothing illegal, I hope."

"Don't worry about it," I say. Turning to Linhardt, "Yeah, go for it."

"Mixed success, all things considered. I figured out what ties the five people together, but found no ties between them and the conspiracy theory."

"Let's hear it."

"It took me a long time to track down, but both of the white missionaries recount being set on their path of Native rights activism by a woman that they say has divine qualities. Both of these people are deeply Christian, and wondered if she was spreading the word of God. Worcester went to live with the Cherokee and see if her words about them being good, civilized people were true, while Evarts investigated the records and legal cases. Both came to the conclusion that the Cherokee are a full, civilized nation with sovereignty over its lands that should be supported by the US Government."

"What divine qualities did this woman have?"

"They were vague about it. I don't think either of them remembered her well, only that she set them on the path of Native activism. They both mentioned her independently, by the way, and never talked to each other about her."

"Huh." I cross my arms. "Odd."

"Even stranger is the run-in Ridge and Boudinot had with her, also independent from each other. They both describe her as a Cherokee elder who urged the Cherokee to go along with removal. Cherokee women used to play a prominent role in politics, but that declined when the Cherokee started to westernize. Most of the women were staunchly against removal, but this person was an exception. She was described as having the same vaguely divine qualities that the missionaries recounted. Both Boudinot and Ridge record that she told them that she was connected to the Corn Mother Selu, and that she seemed larger than life. They used her support to try and convince hard-and-fast traditionalists to go along with removal, though they made little progress in doing so. I'm not sure how much they believe that she had some of Selu's divinity, since they barely talk about her."

"So we've got a mysterious woman connected to a Cherokee spiritual figure who influenced white missionaries and Cherokee leaders alike," I say. "And you think Byleth wants more information about this person from these people's accounts?"

"That's my best guess right now."

"Do you know for sure that it's the same figure appearing to the four people?"

"They all say that she did not want to give her real name, but that she told them to call her 'Seiros.'"

I blink. "Repeat the name."

"Serios." Linhardt frowns. "Does it ring a bell for you, Claude?"

He knows I recognize it. No point in denying it completely.

"Sounds familiar, but I can't place it. It's probably nothing."

So the famous warrior-saint in Fódlan was involved with the Cherokee Nation in her incarnation on Earth. This is the first I've heard of religious figures from Fódlan being consistent with the real world. Is Seiros Cherokee? Because Evarts and Worcester suspected that she might have some connection to the Christian God.

"Thanks for your help, Linhardt," I say. "That's more than I was expecting."

He offers a slight nod. "I'll let you know if I come up with anything else."

After he leaves the room, Dimitri looks over at me.

"I heard Byleth's name," he says. "You're snooping into what our teacher is looking up?"

Now's not the time to mention my distrust for this world's Byleth.

"Gotta pass the time somehow, right?"

"Is that what you do when nobody sees you all weekend?"

Yeesh. Does everyone notice when I'm gone?

"Among other things," I lie. "But hey, that doesn't matter right now. You all packed up for Thanksgiving?"

Dimitri goes quiet. After a few seconds, it's clear that this isn't normal.

"Did I say something, or…?"

"I thought you knew," Dimitri says. "My parents are dead. I'll be staying here with Dedue and Ashe."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"It… should be fine. It was a long time ago."

Should be fine? That's the most "I'm still struggling with this" flag I've ever heard.

"If you want to talk about it, I'm here for you."

"Thanks." Dimitri manages a weak smile.

"So Dedue's parents are also, ah…"

"Killed in a race riot. Sylvain's and Felix don't get along with their parents, but I think they're going home anyway."

Ah yes, fuckboi Sylvain and closet weeb Felix. Ever an iconic duo if there was one.

"Well, we should all plan to cook a big Thanksgiving meal together," I say. "I bet most of the people in the other halls will be out, so we can use their kitchens too."

Dimitri's face lights up. "That's a great idea. We don't get a chance to show it off much with how cramped the kitchen space normally is, but Ashe and Dedue are great cooks. Do you know if anyone from your faction is staying at school?"

"I should check up on that. I don't talk with most of the Golden Deer that much. The only other person who I'm assuming will stay here is Dorothea."

"Right, I think she told me that she's also an orphan."

We spend the rest of our study session discussing possible Thanksgiving dishes, to the point that I have to finish my homework and submit it online after Dimitri leaves for dinner. But it's nice to pause for a moment and take a chance to talk about life.

#

The next day, the rest of the people from the Golden Deer house leave to return home. Turns out Raphael is also an orphan like Dimitri, Ashe, Dedue, and Dorothea, but he's spending the holiday with Ignatz and his parents. Ignatz seems to feel guilty about something involving Raphael, but I don't push. Marianne seems to have a rocky relationship with her father, and I point out that she can stay here with us, but after she brushes me off there's not much I can do.

During that day, I catch a bit of conversation between Bernadetta and Dorothea, with Bernadetta looking skittish while she navigates around the issue of her father while Dorothea continues to insist that she stay at Garreg Mach High School. Dorothea spots me and drags me into the conversation.

"Hey Claude, you know a thing or two about batshit crazy parents, right?" she says.

"You could say that."

"All right. Imagine you had a father whose sole goal was to marry you off to a rich spouse. Imagine he did shit like tie you to a chair and leave you there all day so that you'd learn to be quiet and submissive. Should you be going back to a household like that?"

"It's better now," Bernadetta says. "At this point, he mostly ignores me."

"Well then, he won't miss you when you're gone," Dorothea says. "Right, Claude?"

"I'm a general proponent of staying away from abusive parents," I say. "Not sure if we're going to get you out of your room either way, but I'm guessing you'll be happier staying with us."

"That's right." Dorothea puts her hands on her hips. "I'm not letting your father get his greasy fingers on you. I took self-defense classes while I was a child star for this exact sort of situation. Well, I was expecting people to go after me, but it's all the same in the end."

"If you both think so…" Bernadetta fidgets with a leaf scrap in her hand. "I'm guessing I'll be happier here. So long as I'm not a bother or anything."

"You're not a bother at all," I say. "In fact, we'd love to see more of you."

Bernadetta lets out a nervous laugh, but her shoulders relax a bit.

It's nice to unwind over the next few days, especially without the presence of asshole McAristocrat and asshole McAristocrat v.2 (Ferdinand and Lorenz, though I'm not sure which order they go in). After settling in, I spend most of my time in Fódlan catching up on training and doing more reading on Heroes' Relics. Thanksgiving sneaks up on me before long.

Dedue and Ashe start cooking the Thanksgiving dinner before noon. Dimitri does his best to help out, and he doesn't look incompetent by any means, but I can tell Ashe and Dedue have it covered. Once we get Bernadetta out of her room, she starts cooking on one of the abandoned floors. Lucky for us we got all the real chefs staying here at school. And while I do see Ashe and Dedue making some of the Thanksgiving staples, they also branch out and add in foods from non-American cultures. The Tom Yum, Tom Kha, and Pad Thai in particular smell amazing. I begin to realize how much I miss good Thai food back in Seattle.

"What makes America special is how people come to live here from all over," Ashe explains to us. "I'm not super experienced in foods from all these different cultures, but it felt wrong not to give it a shot."

This gives me the courage to speak up about making Iranian food, to which Dedue gives a silent nod and Ashe encourages me. It's not like I know a ton since my dad's never been much of a cook, but I can make Kebabs and stew. Too bad we don't have a grill here. The school would probably throw a hissy fit about it being a fire hazard anyway.

By the time we sit down to eat dinner, I can tell that we have too much food. Ashe doesn't seem to mind, and rushes through the thing that he's thankful for while urging us to get on with it. I remember having to do that before my mom decided that celebrating Thanksgiving meant being pro-genocide (and she's not as wrong as she might sound about that, despite her characteristic lack of nuance). Ashe talks about his brother and sister, Dedue says he's thankful for Dimitri, Dimitri says he's thankful for Dedue in return, Bernadetta says she's thankful to be away from her dad, and Dorothea says she's thankful that Bernadetta's away from her dad.

Then it comes to me, and I'm not entirely sure what to say. This world hasn't given me much to work with, and I don't feel like I owe it anything. Then I think back to the world of Fódlan. Kostas charging at Edelgard with an axe in hand. And then I know what I'm thankful for.

"I know we're all stuck at school because things are rough, but I'm glad that we're all okay for now. Let's try to keep it that way, shall we?"

"Ever the optimist, Claude." Dorothea elbows me. "Ugh, too bad we can't sneak booze past these Catholics even on a holiday. Don't y'all drink wine every communion?"

At this point, I hear a suitcase rolling behind us. I look over my shoulder, expecting Seteth to materialize and scold Dorothea, but instead I see Ingrid. She halts when she sees all of us sitting around the tables in the common area.

"I guess this is a bad time, huh?" she says.

"I, uh," Dimitri looks between Ingrid and me, "Didn't know you were planning on joining us."

"Why don't you take a seat?" I say.

Ingrid looks surprised when I address her, but sits down in between Dimitri and Ashe.

"So what's going on?" Dorothea says. "Who do I need to beat up? Tell me, Ingrid."

"Nothing like that. It's just…" she lets out a sigh. "Family troubles."

"Ooh, so I need to beat up your parents."

"She'll do it," Bernadetta squeaks. "Trust me, she's dead serious."

"If you want to talk about it, we're happy to listen," I say. "If not, enjoy the food. Ashe and Dedue are great cooks."

"I'm on good terms with my parents," Ingrid says. "In fact, they were the ones who flew me back out early. They could tell I was getting stressed, and that they were reminding me of…"

"Of?" Ashe says.

"My family is… historically rich, but in a good deal of debt right now."

Classic. It never ceases to astonish me how rich people can possibly blow through so much of their money.

"But our name still has power," Ingrid says. "And if I marry into a family that has new wealth, we get to pay off our debts and they get connections into the highest echelons of power. We're talking getting ins with families that have the power to tank the economy and ruin millions of lives with the snap of a finger."

Dorothea gasps. "Your parents are _not _going to make you marry some sleazy guy to pay off their debts. Not on my watch."

A tight smile comes to Ingrid's lips. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but who I decide to marry is up to me. Maybe I'll fall in love with the guy. Apparently he's a big movie star or something. I'm sure plenty of girls would be happy to marry a guy like that."

"And what's his name?" Dorothea says.

"Jake Morgan."

Dimitri and Ashe seem to recognize the name. By the way Dorothea slams her fork on the table, I can tell that she _definitely _recognizes it.

"Is there…" Ingrid blinks at Dorothea's fork. "You need to explain your reaction."

"Of course it's _that _son of a… you know, not going to insult his mom by calling him a son of a bitch. He's just a bitch. And a thoroughly nasty piece of work."

"You've met him?" Ashe says.

"Second creepiest guy I've ever encountered." Dorothea rubs her arms. "And that's saying something."

"You're going to say more than that," Dimitri says.

"Let's see, joked about women only being good for housewives, talked about how attractive kids were, was always trying to touch me… am I missing anything? Oh yeah there was the whole thing with-"

"I… think I've heard enough." Ingrid's face goes paler than normal. "Do you know if there are public records of him doing this sort of thing?"

"I'm sure there aren't," Dimitri says. "If there were, he wouldn't still be famous, right?"

"No, people have come out and talked about all the shit he pulled," Dorothea said. "One of them was the sweetest actress I knew. Got so many death threats that she didn't leave her house for a month. That's why I've never told anyone about him before."

Ashe, Dimitri, and Ingrid look at Dorothea in horror. I guess this must be their first time hearing about abusers getting away with everything because they have the power while their victims continue to suffer. Better late than never, I guess.

"Ingrid," I say. "Your parents care about the money, right?"

"Uh, that's right."

"You can convince them that this guy's secrets are about to be exposed, and that all his wealth is going to fall out from beneath him. Rich people are terrified of that sort of thing."

She considers for a second and then starts to nod.

"That could work. Thanks for your help, everyone. Dorothea, if you could link me any information you could find about him that would be great."

"I'll do it right after dinner's over." Dorothea shakes her head. "I should have dealt with him, too."

Dealt with him? Nobody else seems to linger on the bitterness in her tone, and we go back to eating. Ingrid compliments all the food, including the stuff I made.

"She doesn't say that sort of thing lightly," Dimitri adds. "You should all be proud of yourselves."

"And you too," Ashe says. "You were a lot of help as well."

We continue chatting while we eat, and refrigerate the leftovers after a couple hours pass and we're all talking rather than eating. When I exit the common area and head back to my room, I hear Ingrid clear her throat behind me.

"Something I can do for you?" I say.

"I… wanted to thank you. For your help earlier."

"Oh yeah. No problem."

Silence. She doesn't start walking away from me.

"Anything else?" I say.

"I know you're not a bad person, Claude. I'm trying to… see you as a person. Did those comments I made back on the first day bother you?"

"Bother me in particular? No. Were they objectively shitty things to say? Yeah."

She frowns. "So why are you helping me?"

"I'm going to be honest with you, Ingrid. I don't really care if you hate me. I don't really care if you hate my people. I'll be up in arms the moment someone uses their prejudice as an excuse to justify hurting someone. And that can occur in subtle ways too, like defending the way the US captured and detained a bunch of Arab-Americans following 9/11. I haven't seen you do that yet."

"You… think I'm racist but you don't care?"

"Don't have time to care about the people who believe bad things when there are so many people out there who do bad things. Tonight, you were someone suffering from the rich using you as a pawn. So I helped. If tomorrow you're the one harassing Muslims, I'll help them fend you off instead. I don't think it's that complicated."

"I think I see. I can try to repay you by… assessing my actions to make sure I'm not hurting people who are struggling."

"Yup yup. Think you can do that?"

"I'll try my best."

"I hope for everyone's sake that you succeed. Have a good night, Ingrid."

"Good night, Claude."

#

A few days after Thanksgiving, I jaunt back over to Fódlan for the day of the Goddess' Rite of Rebirth. Byleth leads the Black Eagles class plus me over to the Holy Mausoleum. I have to keep reminding myself that the Dorothea and Bernadetta here aren't the ones I spent Thanksgiving with on the way there while Bernadetta tries to hide behind everyone else in the group. Emo-haircut Hubert, as usual, keeps his one visible eye on me for the entire short walk.

When we arrive, we see that bandits have already infiltrated the Holy Mausoleum. Byleth shouts at us to get into battle formation, and before I have time to panic we're advancing towards the enemy.

Byleth uses their usual strategy of luring in groups of enemies a few at a time, surrounding them, and destroying them before moving onto the next group. At this point, most of the Black Eagles students outclass the bandits that we're fighting, and my help is mostly superfluous. I keep an eye out for any weak spots on our flanks, but it looks like Byleth has everything covered. As usual.

When we advance further into the Mausoleum, I fixate on two important details of the battlefield. First, there's a scary-looking knight with a horned helmet that looks like a skull with metal teeth and an indent where the nose should be. He's studying us with scythe in hand, making no move to approach us. Second, there's a mage in a plague doctor outfit in the back, fiddling with what looks like a tomb. The tomb must have a magical seal, because the mage isn't making a ton of progress.

"Let us avoid that knight," Edelgard says. "It doesn't look like he will attack us if we ignore him."

Then why the fuck is he here? Byleth narrows their eyes and nods, moving us to the walls of the room while we maneuver around him. His eyes glow red through the mask, fixating on Byleth, but he doesn't make any other motions to attack. I continue to provide cover and pick off a few stragglers until we eventually approach the mysterious mage at the tomb.

"Stay away from the tomb of Saint Seiros," Caspar yells. "Go crawl back into whatever hole you freaks came from."

Saint Seiros? Interesting. But now's not the time to consider what I learned about Seiros and the Cherokee back on Earth. Byleth holds up a hand to halt Caspar and darts in themselves to attack the mage. He staggers back after a couple of hits, and the coffin lid flies open.

The mage pulls a sword out of the coffin, looks at it in a moment of confusion, and then shrugs. Maybe he was expecting Saint Seiros' bones as well? Wait. I squint at the sword, and it definitely has an erratic design of one of the Heroes' Relics I was researching. The sword is held together in links that remind me of a spine. I push past the grossness of the image and see that the blade has an empty hole in its hilt. That must be where the crest stone goes, so it shouldn't be active right now.

Byleth knocks the sword out of the mage's hand and picks it up. The mage fires blasts of fire at Byleth, who parries the attacks with their new blade.

The relic sword in Byleth's hand starts to glow.

Byleth lunges. The mage puts up a magical barrier, but Byleth slices through it with one stroke and then slams their new relic sword into the mage's side. The mage crumples to the ground. Byleth takes a moment to stare at the sword as the glow starts to fade.

That's not supposed to happen, right? The first thing I learned about these Heroes' Relics is that they need a crest stone to power them, but Byleth here seemed to use it pretty damn effectively without one.

Who is Byleth, and what exactly are they capable of?

* * *

**Me uploading a chapter after weeks of inactivity? I'm as surprised as you are. For real, though, this term is kinda kicking my ass so we'll see how much free time I have. **

**Oh also I know this chapter is basically "Claude reads books and googles stuff," which is basically what I do these days. I promise all the research he does here will be important later. Also I'm not a scholar on Cherokee history by any means but I tried my best to make everything about that historically accurate (except for Serios being there of course).**

**I'm also not sure if most boarding schools don't have all the fancy decked out kitchens and lounges and stuff we have at college, but if not I'll justify it by saying that this is an extra fancy boarding school. **

**Notes:**

-It's been a while, so I'll clarify that Creepy McCreepface is Thales, but Claude doesn't know his name yet.

-Linhardt studying genetics IRL has a lot of similarities to crests, actually (all about inheritance! And transplanting/removing crests could be analogous to gene editing). Oh, and the _couch potato_ gene is a real thing in fruit flies, and it's pretty heavily studied. Genes are usually named after their mutant phenotype, so flies with a messed up _couch potato _gene lack a lot of basic functions and appear "lazy" as a result.

-The conversation with Dorothea and Ingrid is based off their paralogue together, but in the game the dude Ingrid's parents want her to marry is shady for a different reason. But yeah actors (particularly child actors) getting taken advantage of and violated is a huge issue.

-Ashe and Dedue (and I think Bernie?) are canonically good cooks, and you get extra benefits when cooking with them in game.


	7. Chapter 6: Tower of Black Winds

I'm at my laziest during the two weeks of school in between Thanksgiving and winter break. It makes me wonder why Thanksgiving has to be when it does. Or when Christmas has to be when it does. Those darn pagans dressing up their winter solstice celebration into a Christian holiday after converting, am I right?

At least being lazy in the real world gives me time to catch up on my slack in Fódlan. Despite Manuela's proficiency in subjects ranging from singing to medicine, she's not the instructor that Byleth is, and I end up sitting in on some of Byleth's lessons when I have the free time. So I basically have three schools to attend rather than two.

Three schools plus doing outside research about the magical fantasy aspects of Fódlan. Heroes' relics continue to interest me and I keep an eye on Byleth's Sword of the Creator, but my attention drifts over to crests. Professor Hanneman is more than happy to give me the basic run-down, and asks me afterwards if he can perform tests on me to figure out more properties of my Crest of Riegan. Combined with the glint in his eye, it's the easiest "no" I've ever had to decide.

The precise inheritance of crests is a mystery even to crest scholars, but it behaves similar to what we expect from human genetics. The fact that crests are a sort of "you either have it or you don't" thing makes me suspect there aren't that many independent gene pathways controlling crest development, but there are probably more than one since we do see major and minor forms of each crest (I considered the idea that people with the minor crest are heterozygotes, but the genetics don't add up for that).

Most of this is material I've pieced together from previous research, and the real breakthrough comes when Hanneman tells me about Byleth's previously unknown crest being identified as the Crest of Flames, which they apparently share with some mythological dude called Nemesis. I do some more investigating and come across records that don't seem especially reliable about how he liberated Fódlan from the clutches of mysterious godlike entities, but then turned insane and needed to be put down by Saint Seiros almost a thousand years ago.

I decide to ask Byleth what they know about Nemisis during one of their fishing sprees. Honestly, I'm surprised that they haven't totally depopulated the fishing site yet. They seem happy to explain in between catches when they put bait on the hook with mechanical motions honed by practice and wait for the fish to bite.

"Nemesis, huh?" they said. "Funny enough, I had to ask Archbishop Rhea about the guy. He's not supposed to have any living descendants, so I suppose I'm an anomaly."

"Your dad doesn't have the Crest of Flames, right?" I say. "So you got it through your other parent's side?"

Byleth regards me for a moment before nodding. "I must have. My mother died during childbirth, and my father never told me about her."

So childbearing deaths are common even with healing spells in this world. Maybe there's something that modern medicine has over magic after all.

"I was curious why Nemesis went insane," Byleth says, "But Rhea didn't have a definitive answer for me. Makes sense, of course. The historical records on the subject seem jumbled and inaccurate."

"When aren't they?" I pause. "Are you wondering about the same thing happening to you?"

A sigh. "It's crossed my mind. Perhaps the raw power of the Crest of Flames leads to side effects. Rhea said she was confident I wasn't going to get corrupted, but at the end of the day she can't prove anything."

Damn. Despite all the shit I've gone through, I can at least appreciate not worrying about succumbing to madness and killing the people I love.

"Yet something doesn't add up," I say. "I know people who experience hallucinations and delusions. It functions like any other condition and doesn't turn people violent."

"Right. Schizophrenia and depression that gets pegged as 'insanity' don't lead to rampages."

I cock my head at Byleth. Guess this fantasy world can defy some tropes after all.

"So how could Nemesis turn evil from his power?" I say.

"Perhaps accounts of his insanity are fabricated. He could be the warlord type who turned his blades against his own people after fighting off oppressors."

My mind goes back to the warlords on Earth rising to power in war-torn regions after fending off the threats of larger powers. Osama Bin Laden fought the Soviets with American funds when communism reached Afghanistan's border, and look where he ended up.

So yeah, point taken.

"Either way," Byleth says. "It makes me wonder if I should be careful. If people like you shouldn't get too close."

"Come on, teach." I lean back and put my hands behind my head. "We both know that's not happening."

The corners of their mouth twitch upwards. "How did I know you were going to say that?"

"Guess I'm not hard to read. But I _am _hard to get rid of. We're in this together."

"Thanks, Claude. That means more than you know."

Byleth lets out a sigh and draws the Sword of the Creator, running their fingers over one of the flat faces. I observe the whipsword structure close up. Whipswords seem stupid to me, but I'm not going to comment when Byleth's impractical tights and dangling sleeves are right in front of me. At least a whipsword can be used as a regular blade if all else fails.

There's something else that bugs me about the Sword of the Creator. There's a hole in the hilt where it looks like something should go. I think back to my research about Heroes' relics.

"Is that where the crest stone is supposed to go?" I say.

Byleth nods. "Another mystery. I shouldn't be able to use this relic without a crest stone powering it, but… well, you remember what happened in the Holy Tomb."

The more I learn about Byleth, the weirder their circumstances seem. Like a fate-chosen hero of an outdated fantasy novel.

"And I'm assuming Rhea didn't have any insight on that one, either?" I say.

"I see you're noticing a trend. It makes me wonder why she's so confident." A pause. "She must know something I don't. Something about…"

"About?"

"It's nothing."

At this point, a fish bites on Byleth's rod, and I focus my vision on the rippling water to distract myself.

"I know that," they mutter under their breath. It's not directed at me. "But we won't make any progress on this alone."

I can tell I wasn't supposed to hear their words, and I pretend not to notice. Byleth pulls the fish out of the water, and by this point I know their grunt means it's not the fish they want. I wander over to the bucket of fish, taking in the smell. Not exactly pleasant, but it does remind me of better times spent wandering through the fish markets of Seattle.

Byleth's words didn't sound like someone responding to an old memory. They looked irked in the moment, like they were replying in real time. I glance around even though I know there's nobody here but us.

"Sorry if I'm a little on edge," Byleth says. "I don't recommend being in charge of keeping kids alive while working through your own personal mysteries."

"I'm happy to help in whatever way I can," I say. "If you need help on missions, or if you need someone to talk with about what's going on."

I try not to sound too excited about the last part. I only have vague clues as to what they're hiding from me, but it must be something big.

"Thanks for the offer, but Sylvain wanted to tag along this time."

Sylvain, huh? Now that I think about it, he must be annoyed that his house is the only one whose professor isn't attractive and female-presenting.

"Thought the guy was allergic to work," I say. You think he's trying to impress you?"

Byleth wrinkles their nose. "I hope not. His older brother stole the Hero's weapon belonging to his family. Sylvain wants to be there and help retrieve it. I suspect his parents may be pressuring him into it so that the Gautier family doesn't look helpless."

"Noble parents really are the worst, aren't they? It's almost enough to make me feel bad for him."

"So I've heard." Byleth smirks.

If I'm the heir to house Riegan, that means my mother Tiana must be important in this world. Considering how hard she was on me when I was nobody, I can only imagine how she treated this dimension's Claude as the heir to a noble house.

"But why did Sylvain's brother steal the relic?" I say. "He couldn't wait to inherit it or something?"

"Sylvain told me that his brother Miklan was born without the crest of Gautier. So he's not going to inherit a copper piece."

"Does he have a different crest, or does that mean he can't use the Heroes' Relic safely?"

"Crestless. We don't know exactly what's going to happen, but even if he can make it work in the short term it shouldn't function for long. That's part of why I'm nervous, actually. Miklan sounds like a caged animal with nothing to lose."

Yeesh. I know how insufferable rich people are, but I sometimes forget how stupid they can also be. I don't think I'd mind putting an arrow or two through Miklan, but that doesn't sound like my job this month. Which means I'll probably be fighting more bandits under Manuela's watch.

"You seem to have all the battles under control so far," I say.

"All except one."

It takes me a minute to figure out that she means the time I defeated Bernadetta in the practice fight.

"You're still beating yourself up over that?"

"If I make that mistake again during the next mission, the arrow slamming into her chest will be sharp instead of blunt-tipped. At least now I have a contingency plan if I miscalculate."

"Please do share that with Manuela and Hanneman to keep the rest of us alive."

"Ah, it's something only I can do. My apologies."

I raise an eyebrow, but they don't elaborate. What sort of tactic can only be used by one individual person? It can't even have anything to do with weird magic in this world, since both Hanneman and Manuela are more skilled mages than Byleth is.

"I wish I could tell you more, Claude," they say. "How about this? One day, I promise I'll tell you everything about who I am. My only request for that time is that you prepare yourself for a bit of a crazy story."

"I'm not sure there's much that can surprise me at this point," I say. "When you're ready to talk, I'll listen."

Byleth smiles in a way that reminds me of Lucina's expression when she was finished babysitting me and I told her not to go. Each time, she promised to come back. Until one day she didn't.

What if I lose Byleth too?

#

Normally winter break sneaks up on me, but this year the time flies by and most people are packed and gone before I know it. Dorothea, Ashe, Dedue, and Raphael stay behind with me, and we're accompanied by Sylvain. I know that Sylvain has parents, but Ashe tells me that he had a fight with them and swore not to visit them.

Speaking of which, I get an email from my mom saying that her new wife Tamara offered to have me stay at their place for winter break. Apparently she's looking forward to meeting me. Most of my mom's anarchist friends are a lot nicer than she is, so it's tempting to take her up on the offer when I know that Tamara will be keeping her in check. But in the end, I decide to stay at school. It's not worth the stress of dealing with my mom, and if I do get lonely I can talk about it with all the orphans who have even more unfortunate family situations than I do.

I do end up having my mother give her wife my email address, and Tamara sends me a nice message about how she and her community are here to support me if I ever need anywhere to go. From the amount of times she emphasizes that she'll be there if I need her, I can tell she's picked up on my mom's parenting mentality of putting me into "sink or swim" situations. It makes me chuckle to myself. My mother isn't exactly a subtle person. But Tamara does seem caring, even more so than most of my mom's anarchist friends, so hopefully she mellows my mother out a bit. Not that I'm counting on it, but a kid can dream.

The biggest issue of winter break, besides catching up with all the extra homework in Fódlan, is making sure I have enough food. The dining hall is closed until school resumes, and the closest grocery store is a 15-minute bike ride away in the cold. I expect the snow to be an issue, coming from the Pacific Northwest where my high school cancelled when snowfall was so much as forecasted (true story), but it turns out places that get a lot of snow have the infrastructure for dealing with it. Whenever it snows, the roads and sidewalks are clear within hours.

The bigger problem is money. Specifically, that most of us don't have a lot of it. Tamara offers to me enough to get through the break, but I turn her down. I appreciate the offer, but she's still a stranger to me. Ashe also offers to buy food for all of us, and despite the fact that he's not a stranger the rest of us turn him down. He doesn't push it, and it takes me a couple days to realize that he understands our poor pride due to being an orphan himself. He does lug back big bags of rice, lentils, and dried beans by himself and keeps them in the kitchen for any of us to use. Dorothea is the first one to crack into the stash, and the rest of us follow suit after realizing that it's more efficient to keep dry food communal. This probably isn't too different from how things work in the anarcho-communist group my mom's a part of. For what it's worth, I do appreciate the stress relief of knowing that there's always a meal for me back at the dorms.

Still, it's not hard for me to put two and two together and realize that Ashe inherited a _lot _of money after Lonato died. I breach the topic as tactfully as I can and he talks to me about how he wants to make a difference in other people's lives the same way Lonato helped him. I suggest donating to charities helping orphans and we do some searching together. I even message Linhardt over the break and he gets back to me at 4:00 the next morning detailing various organizations with their pros and cons. It even comes with a note thanking me for giving him an excuse not to talk with his family, which I'm not entirely sure how to feel about.

Ashe gravitates towards the organizations that help provide services and support beyond physical sustenance, though he still does end up donating a large amount of money to the local food bank. I probe to make sure he's keeping enough money for himself and Ashe assures me that he is thinking of what his siblings will need.

So that's us, living as one happy little community with all the rich people gone. The exception to our group is Sylvain, who seems to pop in and out at random times, smelling like weed more often than not. Between flirting with an uninterested Dorothea, he does make an effort to socialize with Ashe and Dedue. He even invites me to play video games with them, and I find out that he's way better at Smash Bros than the rest of us are. He's a good sport and manages to give off a gentle aura despite his extroversion. Maybe it's the pot.

He also invites us out to dinner every so often, but even ignoring how the restaurant food will disappoint me every time when I compare it to Seattle food, I'm not particularly interested in keeping up a conversation with Sylvain for an entire meal. He seems like a nice enough guy, but whenever the two of us are alone together I can't find anything I want to discuss with him.

The tipping point happens when I'm out on a grocery run at Hy-Vee, a chain which I had never heard of living in Seattle. The name still sounds stupid to me, but I'm not sure if saying that out loud will come off as me attacking the local culture. When locking my bike in front of the supermarket, I hear Sylvain's voice before I see him. I recognize the sickly sweet tone he only uses when talking to girls he's interested in.

When I turn in the direction of the sound and see him chatting with a redhead whose posture is stiff. I can tell they're ignoring him on purpose.

"I know it snowed yesterday, but there's no need for the cold shoulder," Sylvain says. "No's a fine answer, but I think you're cute and I bet you look even prettier when you smile. What's the harm in going out on a single date?"

Excuse me for a moment while I vomit in my mouth.

"If no's a fine answer, then it's mine," she says.

"Is there a reason why not? I can take you to any place you want."

At this point I walk over to Sylvain and raise an eyebrow at him.

"She's clearly not interested in you," I say. "Take a hint."

"Ah, Claude. Nice to bump into you." He runs a hand through his hair. "Tell me, how _do _you get girls interested in you? I thought I was good at it, but you seem to be the ultimate… Sensei, as Felix might say." Sylvain laughs. "He doesn't actually say that, but I'm free to make fun of him now that he's not here."

The redhead makes a move to leave, and I nod in a way that I hope communicates that I have the situation covered. They duck away behind a corner, and Sylvain chuckles as he watches them go.

"Unlucky day, I guess." He turns back to me. "Don't worry, Claude. I'm not a creeper. I wasn't going to put her under any more pressure."

"How did you get this far in life not taking any social cues?"

His mouth tightens. He relaxes the next moment and puts on an easygoing smile, but I can tell I got under his skin. Huh.

"So tell me, o lord of romance," he says, "How did you get Dorothea to go to the dance with you? She's been turning her nose up at me since last year. I think she's a man-hater."

"Well I'm not male," I say, "And I'm also not interested in romance with her. Or anyone."

"You're the type to jump straight to the fun part, then?"

I focus on my breathing as to not give him the satisfaction of seeing me flinch. It's a common response when I tell people I'm aromantic. Guess some people have never heard of friendships before.

"I'll also point out that she gets along fine with the rest of us," I say.

Sylvain laughs. "Have you _seen _her talk to Ferdinand? Last one I witness was her calling him a bee and telling him to stop buzzing around her face."

"She's fine with the rest of us here. I think it's arrogant rich guys she has a problem with."

"Except those are the exact people she wants to date. Because all she looks for in a guy is money."

"Did she tell you that?"

"It's obvious based on how she behaves in public. Most women are like that, you know. A few years ago, I thought my natural charm was making me popular with the girls. Turns out they only wanted a rich boyfriend and thought I looked like a pushover."

"Being less evil than most rich boyfriends isn't a high bar."

"Damn, I'm starting to think you hate men too." Sylvain lets out a laugh. "But if they're not interested in a real emotional relationship, I don't have to be either. Might as well have some fun with it, don't you think? Obviously I'm not going to hurt anyone, but mastering the art of flirting is fun. I thought you understood that."

"Judging all women by the few who wanted to date you for money? If you have to be sexist, can you at least keep it under control in public?"

"Listen, Claude. I don't have a problem with you being a feminist or whatever. But I'm not harming anyone, and based on how Ingrid treated you when we all met on the first day of school I know you have bigger fish to fry. So leave me to my hobbies and I'll leave you to yours."

He turns around to leave, sticking his hands in his pocket and whistling.

"You're worse than Ingrid," I say.

Sylvain stiffens, and this time he doesn't try to pass it off. When he turns back to face me, his eyes are narrowed in the same way my dad's get when he's about to beat me. I fish around in my coat pocket for my swiss army knife by reflex.

"Claude, my dude." This time Sylvain's smile is devoid of warmth. "Nobody's forcing you to try and piss me off by hurling random insults and seeing what sticks."

"Not an insult. Just my honest thoughts. Ingrid's racist, sure, but she doesn't go hunting down brown-skinned kids and terrorize them like a cop. The way you were pressuring that person who clearly didn't want to go out with you, on the other hand…"

Okay, his flirting wasn't as aggressive as I'm making it out to be, but that doesn't change the fact he kept pushing when she was trying to get away from him. I'm not in a mood to argue semantics right now.

"Don't pretend that you know me, Claude." His voice is dangerously soft.

"I don't need to know you to see how other people are affected by your actions. If you're going to keep using other people as fodder for your flirting entertainment, I'm going to step in and help them instead of musing about why I should feel sorry for a rich kid."

Sylvain looks down at his nails. "My brother tried to kill me."

"Hm?" I cock my head at him. "Did you say what I think you did?"

"My brother Miklan was born before my dad met my mom. My old man probably hit up one too many hookers and it caught up with him. My dad wasn't going to give his estate and business to some illegitimate kid. So the day I was born, Miklan was no longer the heir to anything."

"Should you be telling me this?"

"I don't give a fuck. It's not like you can challenge people as powerful as my parents even if I spill all their darkest secrets."

True enough. I run the information I'm getting from Sylvain now through what I remember Byleth telling me about Miklan in Fódlan. Over there he was born without a crest, but I don't think Byleth mentioned him having a different mother than Sylvain.

"I felt bad for my brother, you know," Sylvain says. "It wasn't his fault. Both my parents treated him like shit. He was an embarrassment that they wished didn't exist."

"You don't need to tell me how rich parents are the worst," I say.

"So I tried to be friends with him, even when he shoved me into puddles and tripped me down the stairs. I told myself he never meant it. And then…"

"The murder attempt?"

Sylvain lets out a sigh. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"Oh, people in powerful families have killed siblings for far less. I am sorry that happened to you, Sylvain, and I'm happy to talk about it more if you want to look into taking legal action without alerting your parents right now. I assume they don't know?"

Sylvain nods. "If they did, he wouldn't be in the house anymore."

I doubt he'd be alive. So many poor kids die due to the rich toying with their wealth that they must have a way to dispose of kids who are no longer useful to them.

"That being said," I continue, "If you keep pressuring people to date you when they're not interested, I'll keep calling you out. No sob story is enough to justify using your power and influence to toy with vulnerable people."

"I thought you'd get it, Claude." Sylvain shakes his head. "I would say I hope you see the truth soon, but maybe it's better if you never learn firsthand how an experience like that can affect someone."

Sylvian walks away, and I stand still in the cold for minutes after he leaves. My mind goes back to when my mom and dad were together, and we were living in rural Washington. My dad tied me to a horse and dragged me around whenever I got whiny, but one time was different. I can't remember what I did, but it must have been extra bad since my dad tied the rope around my neck instead of to the wrists.

When the horse trotted forward I remember pain. My vision going red and then black. And then…

_Can't breathe… can't breathe… can't… breathe…_

I blink, and my left hand is at my throat, my fingers running over skin that's still callous and scarred.

What don't I understand again, Sylvain?

#

The rest of winter break passes in a blur. Ashe and Dedue plan a Christmas dinner for all of us similar to Thanksgiving last month, and I'm once again impressed by their cooking skills. Ashe in particular perks up during the process, and I wonder if he's down about not being able to see the rest of his family over break this year. It feels a bit strange for me since this is the first Christmas I've celebrated, since my mom doesn't place weight on religious holidays and my dad's Muslim. Still, the others keep it casual and it feels like any other fun night with friends, even if Sylvain refuses to make eye contact with me.

And thankfully, my mission in Fódlan goes smoothly. Our job is to assist the Knights of Seiros in dealing with bandits in Alliance territory, and the outlaws we fight are less prepared and skilled than the forces I fought at Byleth's side. It's odd that Rhea keeps assigning the most dangerous missions to the new professor, even if they've proven their worth. I keep those thoughts to the back of my mind until the fight is over and I know all my classmates are safe. I can't say I'm fond of everyone in the Golden Deer house, but it's my job to keep them alive so nobody finds their Earth-counterparts dead in a ditch.

Still, while this world is connected to mine, it does seem to function on its own. The people of Fódlan have the right to call themselves real as the people on Earth do. So what does that say about me killing people in this world at the orders of nobility and the religious elite?

We and the Blue Lions make it back to the monastery before Byleth and the Black Eagles do, and I spend the time waiting at the fish pier and thinking about Byleth. I can tell that I'm imprinting on them as an older sibling or parent figure, but when I scold myself for not being emotionally independent the feelings come back stronger. Did I ever really "get over it" when Lucina disappeared off the face of the earth?

When the Black Eagles class returns, I'm the first person at the gates to meet them. Even hothead Caspar and excessive-cravat Ferdinand look shaken, and Sylvain stares at the ground. I remind myself that I'm not supposed to be annoyed at this dimension's Sylvain, though I'm not sure his behavior here is any better than it is on earth.

I ask Sylvain what happened when he steps through the gates.

"I was expecting the bandits," Sylvain says. "I was expecting my brother trying to kill us. But when the relic took control of him, I…"

"He turned into a monster," Linhardt says, stifling a yawn as he steps up to me. "A black-scaled creature with red eyes and spikes running down his back. Was quite a horrific transformation, if you ask me."

He says the words in his usual uninterested tone of voice, and it takes me a couple seconds to process the information.

"Why did this happen?" I say. "Because he tried to use a relic without having a crest?"

"That's my hypothesis right now," Linhardt says. "Guess there's a reason why the church makes sure the noble families keep control of the relics besides consolidation of power."

I glance over at Byleth, who's walking through a crowd of students chatting with each other in serious, hushed tones.

"I'm going to check up on Byleth," I say. "Thanks for the info. Sounds like that was horrifying to witness."

I weave my way through the crowd, and by the time I catch up to Byleth we're in the main hall. When they see me approaching, they pull me aside.

"Did you hear what happened?" they say.

"I heard Sylvain's brother transformed into a monster."

"That's the gist of it." A wry smile comes to Byleth's face. "So that's a face of the Heroes' Relics that the church must not want to get out, seeing as the weapons were supposedly gifted to humans by the Goddess."

I jot that note down in my mental memory. The fact that Byleth is willing to criticize the church in a semi-public area surprises more than the conclusions they came to.

"Claude," Byleth says. "You said that you wanted to help me with my personal problems. How serious were you?"

"I've been told that jokes are my specialty. That was not one of them."

"What if I ask you to do something that's not fair for a teacher to ask of a student?"

"Is it something you feel comfortable asking a friend or ally?"

"Comfortable? No. But necessary?" Byleth draws a deep breath. "I think so."

"Then shoot."

Silence hangs in the air. I keep eye contact with Byleth even as they avert their gaze.

"If I ever end up becoming… not myself," Byleth says, "Like if I transform into a monster from using the Sword of the Creator or start rampaging like Nemisis did due to my Crest of Flames…"

Okay, where is this going? It's not like I'm a good person to ask about reversing that process compared to scholars like Hanneman.

"I want you to kill me," Byleth says.

Oh.

"I'm sorry." Byleth sucks in a breath of air. "I shouldn't… I don't…"

"It's okay," I tell them. "I promise. If you ever transform into something that isn't you and become a threat to the people you care about, I'll end it for you."

"Thank you." Byleth clears their throat and strengthens their posture. "I should report to Rhea. I know I'm being unfair to you, Claude. But I'll sleep more soundly knowing that you'll be there to do what must be done."

I stand in the corner of the main hall for minutes after they walk off. It's only now that I realize the full context of Byleth's words. They lived their life as a mercenary, and were forced into being responsible for the lives of child soldiers and commanding power they don't understand by the orders of a church they can't refuse. All while they're barely older than me.

Of course they're terrified.

* * *

**Hey, everyone. It's been a hot minute, I know, but I'm done with undergrad! *toots horn* Hope everyone's staying safe during this crazy time. **

**My original idea for this chapter was to focus on Anette/Gilbert, but Sylvain is more interesting to me. His characterization is tricky to nail, but hopefully both his and Claude's actions here make sense based on what I've set up in previous chapters. **

**Notes:**

-I tried to base Sylvain's flirting off his in-game dialogue, but I had to dial it down a bit because I don't think I can physically write something that sleazy

-Dorothea calling Ferdinand a bee is a reference to their support conversations. Go watch them if you haven't. Best support chain in the game.

-Claude's father dragging him around with a horse is a reference to the same thing happening in his support conversation with Hilda. In the game Claude says it wasn't actually that bad, but here he has a rockier relationship with his parents so the conflicts there get more serious.

-One of Byleth's dialogue options after completing this chapter when reporting to Rhea is wondering out loud if they will turn into a monster like Miklan did. I played up this fear and combined it with the sketchy stuff we know about Nemesis at this point in the game.


	8. Chapter 7: Rumors of a Reaper

Winter break didn't exactly feel restful, but when January starts I'm still able to get back in the rhythm of balancing two different schools at once. The famous "Battle of Eagle and Lion" is going to take place at the end of next month, and Manuela is already trying to whip us into shape for the contest battle that will take place between all three houses. I can't see a way that we can beat Byleth and their Black Eagles class, so it's hard to stay motivated. Training becomes more of a goal of taking Edelgard out of the fight and wiping the smug grin off her face.

Back on Earth, the awkward semester schedule means that we have finals at the end of this month. My classes are harder than they've ever been before, and with the amount that I'm getting behind I start to accumulate stress canker sores in my mouth. Which makes even eating a painful chore. Still, I trust myself to make it through this time. I've survived worse.

Dimitri is a great help for school matters, at least. He continues working on problems with me, and I find that he's a natural at explaining abstract concepts in a way I can understand. He attributes it to my "natural intelligence," but I don't think that's fair when he's the one doing all the heavy lifting.

"I'm surprised you're willing to put up with me, honestly," I say. "I can't imagine these meetings help you out all that much."

"They do." Dimitri furrows his brow. "And there's…"

"Hm?"

"I've noticed that you disappear for hours at a time each day. Ignatz is covering for you, but we can tell you're not in your room when we invite you to eat dinner with us. And the dark circles under your eyes are getting worse."

Are they? Maybe I need to up my slacking game and get some more rest.

"You don't have to tell me what's going on," Dimitri says, "But I know it's something. And… you've supported people in my group better than I do as their leader. Ashe prefers hanging out with you to any of us. This is the only way I can give back."

I let a smile come to my lips. Too bad I can't mention how cute he is when determined to help people without freaking him out.

"I know the feeling," I say.

My mind goes to the Byleth in Fódlan. They don't know it, but they're the sole force keeping lives over on Earth from being snuffed out.

"And if you do ever want to talk to me about what's going on, I'll be happy to listen," Dimitri says.

"One day, I hope to," I say. "But it's a story I'm not sure anyone will believe."

"Yeah." He looks down at the floor. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"I… know what it's like. To have nobody believe you."

"I don't know what I've stumbled on, but I'm here to listen too," I say.

"I don't want to be a-"

"Burden? You're not."

Dimitri stays quiet.

"I appreciate you not prying into what's going on with me, and I'm not going to interrogate you either," I say. "But I'll be by your side until you're ready to open up. That's a promise."

A silent nod. We finish checking homework through the awkward quiet and leave to go our separate ways afterwards.

I'm starting to think that Earth can be just as dangerous and painful as Fódlan is. So far as I can tell, people are hurting in one world are also struggling in the other. And I'm the only one who can help from both sides.

I wonder what happened to Dimitri, here and in Fódlan.

#

The next time I end up talking with Dimitri is when the three class leaders are instructed to meet with our homeroom teacher Byleth to discuss how the end of the term is going for the rest of the students. Edelgard and Dimitri are already in the meeting room when I show up on time, and Byleth is nowhere to be seen.

"I was afraid it was you instead of them," Edelgard says. "Seriously, where is Byleth? How can someone who walks so fast be late every time I set up a meeting?"

"Sorry that you're stuck with me." I flash a toothy smile. "How often to you meet with Byleth, Edelgard? I've only been in their office once."

I pull up a seat next to Dimitri at the round table where they're sitting and give him a smile. He blushes, which only makes him look cuter.

"I don't see why that's any of your business," Edelgard says. "I talk with Byleth as often as I need to. They're more open than most are here about how Christianity is basically a plague."

I feel Dimitri tense next to me.

"It sounds like you're trying to get a reaction out of us," I say, "But people are shit no matter what ideology they follow. Look into Shinto Imperial Japan and atheist communist China before you throw stones, Edelgard."

"But you can't deny all the atrocities that Christians have committed," Edelgard says. "Even in 'secular' countries like America, religious conversion therapy was seen as valid through the 1970s. Because people let themselves get brainwashed by religious zeal."

"Again, how do you think atheist China handles queer people? What about Muslim Saudi Arabia?"

"Islam is also a plague." A smile comes to Edelgard's lips. "No offense."

"I'm not Muslim," I say, "But they're no better or worse than people who follow other religions. If you start spouting some white feminist bullshit, I'm going to reach across this table and slap you."

I can tell that Edelgard is entertained by my annoyance, which only makes me more annoyed. After a second, her face grows serious.

"Perhaps you're right," Edelgard says. "But if religious authority is hurting people here, shouldn't we be fighting against it regardless of if it's better or worse than other forms of oppression?"

"Sure, so long as it's about fighting the authority and not the faith," I say. "I'll tell homophobes to fuck off any day of the week."

"I… agree as well," Dimitri says.

I look at him, and I see Edelgard's head swivel towards him as well.

"I owe my life to God," Dimitri says, "And that means standing against people who use His name to gain power and hurt others. I don't want to let it happen to anyone else."

Silence falls over the room.

"Glad the three of you finally agree on something," comes a voice from the entrance.

I see Byleth striding in, wearing a set of tights that look as impractical as the ones they wear in Fódlan.

"Sorry if I wasn't supposed to hear that," they say. "And my apologies for being late. I was… preoccupied."

Out of everyone I've met on both Earth and Fódlan, it's hardest for me to separate the two versions of Byleth. Even the speech rhythm of the two Byleths sounds identical.

Edelgard perks up when Byleth steps into the room and sit down, while Dimitri blanches. I'll have to ask him later how he feels about Byleth hearing what he told us.

"No worries, teach," I say. "I have an admission as well. It's been hard for me to check in with my Golden Deer classmates due to how busy I am, and don't really know how they're doing."

"I have some concerns about people in my class," Edelgard says, "But we've discussed it before. No progress with Ferdinand trying to one-up me on every test or Linhardt squandering his potential."

Dimitri stays quiet.

"Hopefully Linhardt will find ways to insert his passions into schoolwork, and I can have another chat with Ferdinand," Byleth says. "Yeesh, why is it so hard for people to get along?"

Byleth goes through each of the individual students with Dimitri, Edelgard, and me, asking what our impressions are of their academic and mental health states. I'm surprised that Edelgard doesn't roast most of her classmates, and she does seem to care for them. She even mentions Dorothea and Petra feeling out of place, and Byleth says they'll make sure that the two of them feel supported.

When it goes to the Blue Lions house, I do bring up the conversation I had with Sylvain over winter break. I ask if he's infringing on the space of female students here, and Edelgard answers that Dorothea seems to hate him but the rest seem fine. Byleth also mentions that Lorenz has been searching for a "suitable wife" and is bugging all the girls at the school, so I guess I need to keep an eye on him since he's in my class. Other than that, Dimitri says that the Blue Lions are mostly doing well, though I can tell that he's holding back on information about some students. I'm sure Byleth catches on as well, but they don't pry further.

When it gets to me, I realize how little I know about the people in my class. Lorenz is a douchebag, Hilda keeps antagonizing me but seems to be fine around everyone else, Marianne looks sad all the time but is too scared of me to talk about it, and the rest of them seem fine. When it gets to Lysithea, Dimitri says that he's noticed that she's been having a tough time. She's still scoring well on assignments, but he's noticed a lot of the same traits about her that he has in me. Isolation. Lack of sleep. Doesn't tell her roommate Leonie where she's going.

There's no way she's going to Fódlan too, right?

Byleth mentions that they've noticed something is up with Lysithea, but it was something that she didn't want to reveal to them. I promise to go check up on her, but considering that we don't know each other I'm not sure how much headway I'll make.

Afterwards, Byleth asks me to walk with them back to their office. On the way, they apologize to me about not being able to figure out what Lysithea is dealing with themself.

"But if there's anyone I trust with this, it's you," Byleth says. "I know I shouldn't be having students do my job for me."

"Nah, I get it," I say. "Some people don't like to open up around authority."

"How far would you go to help someone, Claude?"

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"Would you kill if it meant saving lives?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Pretty sure you're not supposed to ask students questions like that."

"Ah, forgive me. You're right. I forget that you're not…" they shake their head. "It's not fair for me to seek support and guidance from you even when there's nobody else."

"Nobody else? Not even Edelgard?"

"She… looks up to me. It's easier to remember who I'm supposed to be around her."

I let the point drop, but my mind is racing. Is it a coincidence that Earth Byleth is beginning to see me as a friend they can share burdens with shortly after Fódlan Byleth does? How much of what happens in Fódlan goes back to influence the real world?

"If you get to ask me personal questions," I say, "I have one for you."

"Shoot."

"When you brought me into your office last time, I saw what tabs you had open. Something about Illuminati conspiracy theories and people involved in Cherokee removal."

"Ah, that." Byleth lets out a sigh. "I can see why that raises questions."

"And do you have the answers?"

"Claude, have you heard of the story of the American passenger pigeon?"

I rack my brains. "I don't think so."

"When Europeans began to colonize what's now known as America, there were about four billion of these pigeons soaring through the skies. Reports stated that they could form swarms like locusts and black out the sky. Do you know how many are alive today?"

"Given that you're asking, I'm assuming not many."

"Zero." Byleth's lips form a smirk. "The European colonizers wiped out four billion birds by the year 1900. This is before states like Utah and Arizona were admitted into the union. That's how quickly we eradicate species we dislike."

"You're going to need one hell of a segway to connect this to what you were looking up," I say.

"One fact that fascinated me was how the Native Americans made sure only to eat the juveniles so that the adults could keep reproducing. Killing an adult passenger pigeon was considered a crime in some tribes."

"Not surprising that they did a better job of keeping ecosystems stable than our ancestors."

"It made me wonder," Byleth says. "How many more species do you think went extinct when Europeans pillaged America and massacred its people? How much did this land need to lose before the bloodlust of satiated?"

"It's never enough. I know that after we left desolation from coast to coast, we moved onto neighboring islands."

I learned only recently how the US overthrew Hawaii's queen Liliʻuokalani in the late 1800s and annexed Hawaii using military force. We applied the same tactics to many of the Pacific Islands. Same as Imperial Japan did building their own Pacific empire and same as Nazi Germany did to Poland.

"So many species extinct," Byleth says, "Species that lived in harmony for millenia with the Native Americans. And something tells me not all the species that were hunted to extinction were recorded."

I halt in the hallway, blinking at Byleth. "What are you saying?"

"There's so much to this land that was lost to the tides of conquest and genocide," Byleth says. "I'm starting to think that there were species that sound like they come from fantasy worlds."

The Illuminati conspiracy about the reptile people. Did Byleth… believe that lizard-people existed and were hunted to extinction by white settlers?

"Listen, teach. I get that conquerors don't always write accurate records. But I think they'd mention encountering lizard people. Besides, if this species coexisted with Native Americans then we should have oral histories from them about it."

"Right, there are some real limitations to this idea of mine," Byleth says. "And I don't know if they're actually lizard people. But that's what research is for, right? From my best guess, Native Americans _did _interact with the people I'm looking for, though they might not have known it. I believe these mystery people can appear as humans."

I'm used to dealing with my mom's conspiracy theories, part of which is learning to brush of craziness when you hear it. It's not like I'm going to convince Byleth that lizard-people taking the appearance of humans and integrating into our society makes less sense than all people being humans.

But there's one thing that makes me hesitate.

"Do you know anything about a person called Seiros?" I say.

"Ah, I'm surprised you were able to dig up information about her. It took me quite some time to find anything at all. Yes, she's a mysterious figure associated with Christianity in America who seems to possess divine power. She tried to save the Cherokee and other tribes from the death marches, but failed to leave much of a mark every time. She pops up all throughout history, often decades apart, and is always described in the same way."

And she shares the name with the Saint Seiros in Fódlan who defeated Nemesis and restored peace to the world. What does that mean?

"Most of the Native Americans didn't exactly trust her," Byleth says. "Most of their resilience and victories came from within, not from external help. But the Europeans she appeared to also regarded her as a mysterious entity. Like she belonged to a lost culture of Native Americans. Quite an interesting person, don't you think?"

"There has to be a simpler explanation than her being another species that transformed to look like a human, though."

"Perhaps." Byleth shrugs. "Oh, this school was founded in Seiros' honor, by the way."

"Really." I have to ask Linhardt about that one.

"It's enough to get a person like me curious. But don't let me get you caught up in this silly little conspiracy theory of mine."

I wonder if there's more they aren't telling me. A rational person doesn't see an obscure historical figure shrouded in mystery and jump to the conclusion of "lizard-person."

"Well, I'm glad you're being open with me," I say. "Best of luck in your… research."

Byleth lets out a laugh. "Thanks. Good luck keeping your strong pace in school. Dimitri says you've been busy with outside activities."

I hear the question of "what the hell could you possibly be up to?" on their lips.

"Happens to the best of us," I say. "See you around, teach."

After I wave goodbye and walk off, I let out a sigh. I never took Byleth for the conspiracy theorist type, but I suppose that's hardly the strangest aspect of my life right now.

Being a citizen of two worlds is exhausting.

#

Getting a chance to talk with Lysithea is harder than I expect. Whenever I message her or approach her in the halls, she says that she doesn't have the time to chat. Must be a sad life to spend that much time working with no breaks and no outlets.

Then I think about the two schools I'm juggling. Yeah, maybe I shouldn't judge.

I ask her roommate Leonie strategies for getting to know her, and Leonie responds that I should bribe her with desserts. Preferably more "mature" foods like cake instead of "childish" candy, which Lysithea apparently is embarrassed at liking.

So when I meet her in the cafeteria one day, I offer to buy her an extra cake slice with meal points if we can chat and get to know each other.

Lysithea puts her hands on her hips. "I'm not going to date you because you're buying me cake."

"Nothing like that. I have my eye on a couple people here, but you're not one of them. I wanted to check in since I've had extended conversations with everyone else besides you from our class at this point."

"You're more interested in other girls?" She frowns. "Is it because you still see me as a child?"

"No, but you're probably right that the age difference is good to consider."

"That wasn't what I-"

"Listen, you want cake or not?"

Lysithea wrinkles her nose. "Fine. But I'll be working on homework while we eat and talk."

We find a two-person table that doesn't look too dirty and sit across from each other. From an outside view, I guess this could look like a date. In middle school I know Hilda thought me wanting to grab food with her was a date when I only wanted friendly company. Not that Hilda's company is ever really friendly, but you gotta take what you can get in middle school. So yeah, being aromantic means I miss most of those "dating" cues.

"So what did you want to ask me?" Lysithea says between bites of a sweet roll.

"Wanted to check in. Some other students mentioned you look under the weather and I wanted to see what was going on."

Lysithea looks up at me. "You look like shit too, you know."

Ah. At least she's honest.

"I'm not denying that, and I have my own challenges. I'm curious about yours."

She goes quiet for a minute, taking the time to scribble down a couple of answers to calculus problems. I can't exactly see what she's working on, but I glimpse enough to tell that she's even gliding through obnoxious word problems with ease.

"It's nothing new," Lysithea says. "There's not a lot of time left to work hard and secure my family's future."

"Why do you say that? Many people stumble upon success much later in life."

"I cannot be one of those people."

Another minute of silence. It's during this time that I realize she's doing _all _the math problems in the textbook, not only the ones that are assigned. I know our calculus teacher said that all the "good" students do non-assigned problems, but I never expected to encounter a real human being that listened to her about that.

"Claude." Lysithea sets down her pencil. "If you only had a few years left to live, what would you do with them?"

"Where's this coming from?"

"I'm waiting for your answer."

I look up at the ceiling and lean back in my chair. What is there to even do as a high school kid who has no access to the "real world."

Though her question isn't exactly hypothetical for me. If I keep messing around in Fódlan, I'm not sure how much longer I'll be around.

"Find some way to help people, and protect everyone I care about," I say. "Even if it means using force."

A smirk pops onto her face. "Then we are the same, Claude. That is what I am doing. Success requires work, and at this point I'm racing to the finish line."

What… happened to this kid?

"I'm not sure if my sympathies help," I say, "So let me know what you need. I'm learning that when we're placed in these difficult situations, we sometimes have no choice but to rely on other people."

"Thanks for the offer, but this is something I must do alone." Lysithea shoves another sweet roll into her mouth. "Is this satisfactory for our conversation, Claude?"

"I guess it is. Message me if anything else comes up, all right?"

She nods, her cheeks puffy like a chipmunk's from the roll in her mouth.

I don't think she's going to tell me much more for now, but I do wonder if whatever she's dealing with is affecting Fódlan Lysithea as well. Maybe I can cross-compare and see what I find.

Back to the grind for me too, then.

#

The next time I go to Fódlan, the second I venture out of my chambers I see Byleth and Seteth speedwalking together in the direction of the main hall. Seteth's body is tense, and he looks in all directions while walking. He reminds me of a dog my dad had who never could find the treats we through for him and spent minutes searching the grass for something that _should _be there. They chat up each student they pass, but nothing they say makes Seteth relax. Even Byleth has their arms crossed and brow furrowed.

I approach the two of them with a wave. Byleth's shoulders relax when they see me, while Seteth doesn't even notice my approach.

"Something going on?" I say.

"Flayn is missing." Seteth's voice sounds pleading. "Have you seen Flayn anywhere?"

It takes me a second to remember who Flayn is before my mind locks on the girl whose curls look like drills. She talked in a formal way that seemed out of place to me, both on Earth and Fódlan.

"Your sister?" I say. "I haven't. All I know about her is that she likes fish, but I'm assuming you checked the fish-related areas."

"She's nowhere to be found in the monastery," Byleth says. "And if someone were near the fish pond, I'd know."

I believe that last part, at least.

"Ah, well I haven't done much exploring outside the monastery recently," I say. "Maybe we could ask Leonie. She hunts and trades with the nearby village, so she'd be the first to hear about someone popping up outside Garreg Mach."

"Yes." Seteth nods several times. "Maybe she will know what is going on."

"Hey, Claude," I hear Lysithea's voice behind me. "Have you seen Manuela recently? I'm supposed to have a meeting with her."

Byleth studies Lysithea as she approaches us.

"Manuela is missing as well?" Seteth says. "Oh no. Professor, we must hasten our investigation."

"Let's talk while we move, then," Byleth says. "Claude, Lysithea, feel free to come with."

Byleth powerwalks off in their heels, sleeves flapping behind them. I jog to catch up, and I hear Lysithea doing the same.

"Seteth, is there a reason Flayn's disappearance is this serious to you?" Byleth says. "Because if there's something you aren't telling us, it might be helpful for us to know."

"I, uh, ah." Seteth looks between me and Lysithea. "It's not something that I want students hearing about."

Byleth's eyes light up, and I realize they must not have been as confident in their guess about Seteth hiding something as they seemed. Score one for Byleth's intuition.

"Well, you don't have to gloat about it," Byleth mutters under their breath. "If you have any information that helps us find Flayn, please do let me know."

I glance between Seteth and Lysithea, but it doesn't seem like either of them heard them. I don't see any device that Byleth is using to communicate with someone else, but I can't imagine that they're talking to themself.

While we're walking towards the main hall, I see a blue-haired boy I recognize as Caspar the fight club enthusiast wave at Byleth.

"Hey, professor," he says. "Good timing. We just found something in Jeritza's room."

Jeritza is my history teacher back on Earth, so it takes a second for me to remember that he's a professor here along with Byleth, Manuela, and Hanneman.

"Is it Flayn?" Seteth says. "Did you find Flayn?"

"No, but it's probably related. It's easiest to show you."

Caspar takes off running towards the professors' chambers. Byleth glances at us before following behind. At least they're jogging instead of full-on sprinting like they normally do, I guess. The rest of us tail Byleth until we arrive at Jeritza's chambers.

Inside, we see Dorothea and Linhardt leaning over an unconscious body, their hands glowing with healing magic. I look around them to see that the victim is Manuela, and that she has a stab wound in her side.

Gnarly. Did Jeritza do this?

Before anyone else can speak, I hear footsteps approach from the side and see Edelgard and Petra emerge from a secret underground passageway revealed by a shoved-aside bookshelf.

"Oh, thank goodness you brought the professor, Caspar," Edelgard says. "The passage keeps on going. Considering what happened to Manuela, I'm guessing we'll want to investigate it first thing."

"Agreed," Byleth says. "Seteth. Do you think you can take Manuela back to the infirmary?"

"It's not exactly a one-person job," Edelgard says. "Allow me to assist."

"Ooh, I can help too," Caspar says.

"If we have two students on the job, I'd like to help search for Flayn myself," Seteth says. "Besides, you might need the help if we stumble upon something dangerous."

"Got it," Caspar says. "Afterwards, we can come back with Bernadetta and Ferdinand to help."

"Good of a plan as any, I suppose," Byleth says. "Claude. Lysithea. I don't want to pressure you into anything, but we could use your skills."

"I'm in," I say.

Lysithea hesitates for longer. "I'll join as well. Something smells… off about this whole business."

"No time to waste, then," Byleth says. "Let's go."

Byleth leads the way into the secret passageway, and the rest of us do our best to keep on pace. During this time I can see Lysithea stare off into the distance, bite her lip, and furrow her brow. I want to ask what's going on in her head, but now isn't the time.

I hear the clanking of armor coming ahead. I look up to see a group of soldiers approaching us, with one of those same plague-doctor-suit mages in the back. Byleth barks at us to get into formation, and Seteth brandishes a lance while stepping in front.

We engage the mystery soldiers, but Byleth hesitates to move us too far forward. After we start fighting, a pair of arrows fly over my shoulder towards the enemies, taking out one of the enemies. I see Caspar and Ferdinand charge past us, and Byleth mutters a curse while ordering us to provide cover.

We make quick work of the remaining group of soldiers, aided by Seteth and his lance-fighting skills, but I hear more noises coming deeper within the underground chamber. I glance around to see that Bernadetta has also joined us, and she must be the person who shot the arrows earlier.

"Thanks for making it quick, Caspar," Byleth says. "Where's Edelgard?"

"Uh." Caspar looks over his shoulder, and then scratches his head. "Did either of you see where Edelgard went?"

"It was merely you who approached me," Ferdinand says, smoothing his cravat. "I assumed she was already here. But fear not. I believe my battle capabilities exceed hers in every way."

"Well, we'll make do with what we have," Byleth says. "Keep advancing and watch out for the Death Knight."

The mounted warrior with the horned mask from a couple months back? How does Byleth know they're here?

We pass by the bodies of the soldiers we killed and venture further into the underground chamber. On our way, Lysithea kicks the body of the dark mage in the back. She then raises her hands to blast him with more magic, but stops herself with a sharp breath and lets the dark wisps coming off her fingers fizzle out.

Okay, so there's definitely something personal between her and these mages.

"Professor," Lysithea says. "These people are bad news. We should-"

"Don't hesitate to kill," Byleth says. "We have them in an enclosed space, so they have nowhere to run."

The edge in Byleth's voice makes me think that they also know more about these dark mages than they let on.

But the battlefield is no place to let curiosity wander. I focus on doing what Byleth tells me to. I move where they direct me and shoot when they shout to fire. As usual, Byleth finds ways to ensure that we always outnumber and outmatch our opponents in each skirmish. Many of us take glancing blows, but they make sure that none of us come close to dying.

Time becomes a blur, and before I know it we turn a corner and we're standing in front of the Death Knight. He regards Byleth, his mask obscuring all emotion. Byleth has us kill the soldiers surrounding him when they charge. The Death Knight stares with empty eyes as his peons cry out in pain and fall to the ground.

Then he readies his spear and prepares to charge.

"Stop."

The Death Knight looks over his shoulder, and I see a person in full armor behind him. They weren't there a moment ago, so they must have teleported in. I think that's something people can do in this world?

I take a closer look at our new friend. Their armor has feathers coming out of the shoulder pieces, and they wear a white mask with red strokes that look like flames. They look…

I'm going to be honest. They look like a weeb's DeviantArt OC.

"Death Knight, stand down." Their voice sounds distorted and filtered. "These people are not our enemy."

"Friend," the Death Knight says. "Enemy. It does not matter. Only strength is important."

"I am ordering you to retreat," the other masked figure says. "We have much work to be done."

The Death Knight lets out a grunt and dematerializes. Byleth brandishes the Sword of the Creator at the remaining masked figure.

"You may call me the Flame Emperor," the masked person says. "My goal is to reforge the world. You will be seeing more of me, I am sure."

"Oh, is _that _what you people are about?" Lysithea says.

The Flame Emperor studies Lysithea. "Ah, you mistake me. I am not one of… them."

"What are we waiting for?" Caspar says. "Let's attack."

"No use." Byleth holds him back. "They can teleport out if they feel threatened."

"What did you do with Flayn?" Seteth says, leveling his lance at the Flame Emperor. "I swear, if you so much as laid a finger on her, I'll-"

"She is unharmed." The Flame Emperor waves a hand in dismissal. "Trust me when I say that I have as much reason as you to despise the dark mages you encountered here."

They look at Lysithea, who balls her hands into fists. I see wisps of dark energy seeping out in the cracks between her knuckles.

"Then why are you working alongside them?" Byleth says.

"Our alliances is as temporary as it is necessary. I will see you again, professor."

The Flame Emperor takes a bow, steps back, and dematerializes.

"Don't worry about them for now," Byleth says. "Our job is to find Flayn."

After a few more minutes of walking we find two bodies collapsed on the ground. The first belongs to Flayn, and the second is a red-haired girl I don't recognize.

"Flayn!" Seteth rushes over and takes Flayn's pulse. "Thank the Goddess she's okay."

"Does anyone recognize the other person?" Byleth says, pointing at the redhead.

"That…" Seteth blinks. "Monica. She went missing at the end of last year before graduating."

Odd. Her body lying strewn on the ground indicates that she hadn't been held captive here for long. Where had she been this entire time?

"Well, I'm glad we found her now," Byleth says. "Do you think that Monica and Flayn will be safe once we can get them medical attention? I'm still not sure why Flayn was targeted in the first place."

"She…" Seteth glances around at us. "We can talk about this further in private, professor."

Byleth grunts, but lets the topic drop. We're able to carry the two unconscious girls back through the secret passageway. By the time we reach Jeritza's room, Edelgard bursts into the room from the regular entrance. Following her are Catherine, Shamir, and some of the other Knights of Seiros.

"Oh, professor." Edelgard looks at Flayn's body. "Looks like you didn't need the help I recruited."

"Aw, does this mean I don't get to bash any skulls?" Catherine says.

"It's good for you to learn how to live without fighting someone every few hours," Shamir says, elbowing Catherine.

I focus my attention on Lysithea, who's looking in the direction of Flayn and Monica. After a few seconds, she starts to zone out. Unlocking the key of what happened between her and those dark mages might tell us more about who we're up against, and give me information to support the Lysithea back on Earth.

If only I knew how.

* * *

**Back to chapter 7 of Claude mocking Fodlan fashion: Flame Emperor edition.**

**We stray a bit from canon here, but I wanted Seteth to be shown and if things proceeded as in the game then Claude wouldn't interact with him at all.**

**Hope everyone's doing well, especially my fellow Americans who are dealing with a worsening COVID situation.**

**Oh, and let's try to build the world that canon Claude wants where people of different races/cultures can come together and live in harmony, all right?**


	9. Chapter 8: Field of the Eagle and Lion

Ah, February. The time of snow, love, and mass consumer spending on a day that's supposed to celebrate a religious figure. I can't imagine anything more American than that.

Being aromantic, I've never put much stock in Valentine's Day. The most I can say is that my elementary school was the kind that forced us to give Valentine's Day candy to everyone in the class, and I was that kid who wrote one to myself so I could get extra candy. If I picked out the candy I liked the most, it only made sense for me to have some. Even as a little brat, I knew what was up.

When we're studying together, I ask Dimitri if he has any plans for Valentine's day. He shakes his head.

"I've never been good at that kind of thing," he says. "Besides, it's not like people have any reason to go out with me when there are people who are more attractive and won't fumble as much during romance."

I purse my lips, trying to come up with a way to gas him up that doesn't seem super gay. But even then, he'll be embarrassed if I call him attractive.

"You can't be knowledgeable about romance without giving it a go," I say. "But hey, if romance isn't your thing then don't push it. I'm aromantic, which means I don't experience romantic feelings at all."

"I… didn't know that was a thing." Dimitri furrows his brow. "And hearing you say that surprises me."

"I mean, I'm still attracted to people and want to form close connections with them. I don't know how different it looks on the outside besides being oblivious when someone is romantically interested in me. Which I doubt happens often, but still."

"Oh, I think that a lot of girls here are interested in you." A pause. "So you going to the dance with Dorothea was…?"

"As friends. I'm not trying to get in her pants or anything."

Dimitri's face turns red. Right, kid was raised in a traditional Catholic environment.

"When I form a bond with someone special," I say, "It might look like a romantic relationship. Because almost anything you can do with a romantic partner you can also do with a close friend. Going out to eat, watching movies together… what else do alloromantic people do with their partners, again?"

"Alloromantic?"

"People who aren't aromantic."

"Uh…" Dimitri coughs into a fist. "You probably know more than I do. Is that relationship what you're going for with Dorothea?"

"I don't think so," I say. "She's looking for a different kind of person."

"And you're okay with that?"

"Not like being petty is going to help the situation even if I wanted to."

Dimitri looks down at the floor. "People at my middle school were intense about dating. The people with powerful families were high-status, and were sought after as a result. Some girls even wanted to date me."

Putting dating together with elitism sounds like a nightmare. Maybe I should be lucky I only had Hilda bossing me around as my middle school dating experience.

"And you broke their hearts?" I say. "I didn't know you had it in you, Dimitri."

He blushes again. "Can you imagine me in a romantic relationship? I was doing them a favor."

"Only poking fun." I let out a yawn. "But if you do find someone you want to ask out, I'm happy to be your wingman." I cock my head. "Wing-person? I don't know."

"You know… there is someone."

I lean forward. "Ooh, who is it?"

Dimitri scoots his chair back. "I don't feel comfortable saying right now."

"Why? Is it Ingrid?"

"No."

"Okay, so we have one narrowed down."

"Claude."

"Sorry, sorry. I'll stop teasing you. But seriously, I know it can be tricky to hold that in, so if you need someone to give you a confidence boost, I'm here."

"Thanks." A thin smile comes to his face. "I am planning on telling you when the time is right. And same here, all right? Though I can't imagine you lack the confidence to ask someone out."

I don't know about that last statement. My friendships have always been casual, so what will it be like when I have to put my emotions on the line like everyone else does?

#

As the days pass in early February, Hilda gets more and more annoying. I can handle her calling me bitchboy and shit-talking me whenever we're together, but now she's trying to get me to do all her chores and follows me around whenever she has free time. Considering our "relationship" involved me doing a lot of extra work for her, I ignore her requests and spend more time with Dimitri to shield myself, since she's less aggressive when I'm with someone else.

The exchanges serve to give me greater empathy for female-presenting people dealing with sexual harassment. Because what Hilda's doing isn't bad at all compared to what many serial harassers do to women, and the targets of harassment can't avoid the acid words spewing out of the harassers' mouths by staying with their friends like I can. Plus, if I do raise a stink about what's going on people are more likely to take me seriously since I'm male-presenting, and are more likely to take issue with Hilda because she's a girl.

My mind goes back to Lucina explaining some of this stuff to me when I was a kid. She had gotten catcalled even when walking with groups of female friends, from kids as young as ten to men in their seventies. But she said that it was even worse for her friends who were trans women. That was the first time I heard of people not being cis, and look at who I ended up being on the inside. At the time after she explained what being trans meant, I was surprised that trans women were targeted more than cis women.

Now I'm not. Harassers go after the most vulnerable people because they're looking to make a power move. They don't actually want to date the people they're harassing.

I'm guessing that Hilda also wants to make herself feel better by making my life miserable, so the best thing I can do is to ignore her.

Whenever Dimitri brings up how she's treating me, I try to change the subject. But eventually he pins me down about it during a different study session after we finish going over history essays.

"Listen, Claude," he says. "You say that everything's fine and she's acting normal, but her behavior is worrying other people as well. I'm meeting with her in an hour, and I want you to join us."

"And do what? I can't make someone like me, Dimitri. If she's going to be bitter for the rest of her life then that's her choice."

"We're going to get her to stop treating you like garbage. And if she doesn't, I'm going straight to principal Rhea. I have voice recordings of what she's been saying to you, and it's enough to get her expelled based on the school code of conduct."

"Whoa there," I say. "Not that I'm an expert, but aren't you Christians big into forgiveness and all that? You know, love the sinner, hate the sin? I don't think we need to use blackmail."

"Oh, I do hope you forgive Hilda, and I certainly don't hold anything against her as a person," Dimitri says. "But I know you sometimes need a little oil to get things running. I prayed that she'd see the error of her ways and stop on her own, but that isn't going to happen. Me staying silent about this doesn't help anyone."

I see the fire in his eyes and bite back my response. I don't think there's anything personal between him and Hilda, but his tone tells me that this is hitting a sore spot for him. Might as well see if Hilda can be talked into behaving civilly for his sake, then.

"An hour, you said?"

Dimitri nods. "In this study room."

"I'll be there."

#

I take an extra few minutes spent listening to music and calming myself before going over to the study room. I see Dimitri and Hilda sitting across from each other through the window, and Hilda glances up at me when I enter.

"Bitchboy can never be on time," she says. "Only natural. I bet you would be late to your mother's funeral."

"I was late to my mother's funeral because I was a mess and didn't want to go," Dimitri says. "Is there a problem between us, Hilda?"

I hide a smile when Hilda's face blanches. Dimitri stares at Hilda like a snake watching venom paralyze its victim. Hilda lets out a nervous laugh.

"We're cool, Dimitri. This is between me and bitchboy."

"Could you stop calling him that?"

During this time, I walk over and take a seat next to Dimitri. I keep my gaze directed at Hilda, and she flinches when she meets my eyes. She clears her throat and looks away.

"So Dimitri, what did you want to talk about? Is there a reason that bitchb-Claude is here?"

"I invited him," Dimitri says. "And I think you can guess why."

"Turns out you're pissing off everyone else _besides _me," I say. "If you need to antagonize me, maybe don't do it in a public space."

"Actually," Dimitri says, "I'm going to demand that you leave Claude alone. If you and him have something to work out, now's the time. If not…"

Dimitri's threat hangs in the air, unspoken.

"I'm willing to talk," I say, "But I know I can't change the way you are. I don't mind if you're acting toxic towards me so long as it's diverting your attention from someone else."

Dimitri casts a sidelong glance at me and shakes his head. I don't bother giving him a response.

Hilda pauses. "Is that how you see me, Claude? An entity whose only purpose is to make other people's lives worse?"

"That's the effect you're having on other people. I can't know what's going on inside your head, and I honestly don't care. I'm not about to let your feelings and intentions override what you're doing to people."

"Claude." Dimitri lets out a sigh. "Talking that way won't get results."

"You're the one who's threatening her. I'm not about to give her extra attention just because she's being an asshole. In fact, I probably should be spending this time finding out who else you're antagonizing and supporting them instead of trying to work with you."

Hilda narrows her eyes at me. "You're only saying that to get under my skin."

"Believe it or not, the world doesn't revolve around you. It's clear that you're looking for attention and power, so if I want to discourage your behavior it means I shouldn't give you that, right?"

"So you're trying to condition me like Pavlov's dog?"

"Eh, wrong kind of conditioning, but close enough. Why reward behaviors when you don't want to see them? If I saw you beating up a kid on the side of the street, I wouldn't go up to you and slip you a 20. Same logic here."

"Hilda," Dimitri says. "You're not going to get anything out of Claude by antagonizing him. If there's something you want to say, do it outright. Claude is one of the best listeners I know."

Hilda snorts. "Clearly you must be talking about a different Claude."

"Three choices," Dimitri says. "You avoid Claude for the next couple of years, you tell him what's going on like a mature person, or I tattle on you."

I bite back a comment on how I'm pretty sure there's nothing going on, and Hilda is just an asshole. Dimitri's trying hard enough that I don't want to ruin this moment for him.

"Fine." Hilda lets out a sigh. "I get annoyed when I see your stupid face because I envy you, Claude."

I blink. That's… rather straightforward.

"What do I possibly have that you could envy?" I say.

"See, that's exactly it." Hilda turns to Dimitri. "You get it too, right? How can this boy casually be so good at everything and act like it's nothing?"

"Not a boy, remember?" I say. "And I think you're exaggerating about any skills I have. What exactly do you think I'm good at?"

"School," Hilda says.

"I don't think-"

"She is right about that," Dimitri says. "It can take me hours of textbook reading to grasp something you understand right when the teacher says it in class."

Hilda gives me a "I told you so" smile. I always brushed off Dimitri's compliments, but maybe there's something to them.

"Fine," I say. "Maybe I learn well under the arbitrary model of school our society chooses. I still don't get why you'd be jealous, Hilda."

"How much did I tell you about my brother when we were dating?" Hilda says.

I rack my brains. "Mostly that he was a pain, I think."

"Oh, that _is _true. I'm so glad to be away from him."

"What does he do?" Dimitri says.

"Mostly he's just good at everything like Claude. Popular football kid. Good at academics. Ended up going to Stanford."

"And you're jealous of _me?_" I say. "You know I can't punt a football if my life depended on it, right?"

"Shut up, bitch-Claude." Hilda runs her hands through her hair. "I'm not jealous of my brother because he has it way harder than me. With every success, his parents gloat to the rest of the family. Which means he has to _keep _on achieving Herculean feats or the rest of our rich family will stick their noses up at him."

Ah, the plight of the rich man. Where have I heard this one before?

"Life's easier for me when I don't try," Hilda says. "Turns out, if you set your parents' expectations low enough, you can impress them by not leaving dirty socks around the house."

"Congrats," I say. "Am I somehow jeopardizing your lifestyle of sloth?"

"You're just…" She tugs on her braid. "You try as little as I do, but you still make things happen. And then you fade into the background quickly enough that nobody has time to praise you and set their expectations high for the next time you ace a math test."

A smirk comes to my face. "You don't think I try in school?"

"I _know _you don't. I remember you had that thing in middle school where you always did homework during other classes and refused to do any homework outside of school hours."

"Now that's just being efficient."

"Call it what you want," Hilda says. "I want it."

"Thanks for being open with us, Hilda," Dimitri says. "You know, I'm jealous of Claude in the same way."

Wait, what? I glance over at Hilda, and she looks equally surprised.

"I wish I could hammer out homework in the time that he does," Dimitri says, "And have hours left to lead another life. I wish I could approach each test with a calm heartbeat and quietly do well on all of them. And do you know what helped me with that envy, Hilda?"

She meets Dimitri's gaze and motions for him to continue.

"Becoming friends with Claude," Dimitri says. "Once I got closer, it became impossible to hate him."

Damn, I guess I had no idea how Dimitri saw me all this time. At least I can appreciate him not taking his jealousy out on me like Hilda did.

"Tried that," Hilda says. Turning to me, "You didn't pay attention to me when we were dating and now you won't look me in the eye. I know you hate me."

Dimitri looks between us. "You were…?"

Oh, did I never mention that to him?

"I don't hate you in the same way I don't hate a fly buzzing around my ear," I say. "You're not worth my time, Hilda. Not when there are plenty of nice people out there I could be helping instead."

"You know," she says, "All I wanted was for you to acknowledge that I exist."

"And all I wanted was for you to stop finding excuses to scream at me when we were dating. Sorry I was ten minutes late because my mom decided I was going to help her clean the kitchen without letting me know beforehand. If anything, I gave you too much attention."

"Neither of you are helping the situation right now," Dimitri says.

"You're incapable of changing, Claude," Hilda says. "And incapable of forgiveness."

"It never occurred to me that I should forgive you while you remain unapologetic," I say.

"Like you haven't made mistakes."

"You know, I'm starting to agree with Dimitri," I say. "Either you stop antagonizing me or I make a stink about it. I could probably tell your parents what's going on, and I'm sure they'd be interested to hear about all the weed you smoked in middle school…"

"Claude." Dimitri's face blanches. "You know this wasn't what I wanted."

Hilda smirks at me. "And I could probably tell _your _mom a bunch of interesting stories she'd want to hear. She never did know we were dating, did she?"

"Go ahead," I say. "I'm not planning on seeing her for the next decade or so. My skills with a gun will make sure she doesn't come too close."

The room goes quiet. Hilda opens and closes her mouth a few times without saying anything.

"Did something… happen?" Dimitri says.

"We're both sick of each other. She did fire a couple of shotgun shells at me when I told her I didn't want to run away and live in her hippie anarchist commune. I was far enough away that it didn't seriously injure me, though."

Hilda continues to stare at me with wide eyes.

"Eh, I've been through worse," I say. "You can't show any weakness around people like her, or she'll dive right in and tear you apart. But hey, now I'm better at dealing with people like you who are milder in comparison, Hilda."

"I…" the sound lingers in Hilda's mouth.

"That's not the main point, though," I say, forcing a smile. "You don't have any power over me, Hilda. Not anymore. And since your actions are affecting onlookers, I'm going to take action against you if don't stop. I think that's where I'll leave things."

I scoot my chair back and stand up, stretching my arms up. I yawn, which was always effective against my mom when she was scolding me, and walk out of the room.

Was I too hard on her? Maybe. But it's not my job to make her into a better person when she holds all the cards herself.

#

I distract myself from memories of my mom by going to Fódlan. Everyone there is talking about the Battle of Eagle and Lion scheduled for the end of the month, and both my class and the Blue Lions are excited despite the strength and eye for strategy that Byleth has shown. I'm guessing that both of our houses are going to get demolished, but nobody seems to share my sentiment.

I consider participating in the fishing tournament going on to distract myself, but when I go down to the fish dock I can see that Byleth has already caught a larger fish in twenty minutes than any of the others have in several hours. Soon after, the fishing tournament is concluded and Byleth is declared the winner. I'm not sure what being a total fish magnet says about them, but I suppose there are worse creatures to attract.

Flayn is happy with all the fish caught, and looks at their scaly bodies with the same starry-eyed look Lucina got when explaining ancient tactics and warfare tome. While everyone's attention is diverted, I seek out Dimitri. I think the Dimitri on Earth is cuter with his casual wear and shy expression, so it's easier for me to get down to the point.

"What's up?" I say, giving him a smirk. "How are you feeling about the Battle of Eagle and Lion?"

"I am confident in our house's ability to win, but I wish you the best of luck as well. Regardless, I think it will be a good competition where all of us can be proud about showcasing our talents."

"You think you can take Byleth and the Black Eagles?" I say. "Because they're going to put up more of a fight than my house will."

"You shouldn't say that." Dimitri frowns. "It is your job to believe in your classmates and work together as a team."

"Okay, yes, but realistically we're fucked. Have you seen Byleth fight and lead their students? They've only gotten stronger since the mock battle at the beginning of the year."

"And so have we. Have faith in your own abilities, Claude. Maybe then you won't feel the need to rely on schemes as much."

"I've fought with my class and theirs. It's not the same, Dimitri. It's not even close."

Dimitri shakes his head. "All I can say is that you won't win with that attitude. I know it will be more difficult for us with Manuela and Hanneman sitting out, but our houses will perservere."

So our professors are sitting out? And he didn't mention Byleth, so I imagine that they're staying in. As if we weren't doomed before.

"Maybe we can win, if we both see the truth," I say. "The Black Eagles are the house to beat. If we take them out first, our own chances of winning go up."

Dimitri scoffs. "I'm not surprised that you'd enact such a scheme, Claude, but you should know better than to try and drag me into it. I will fight this battle with honor."

How can the same person be way more annoying in this world?

"Then we'll both get destroyed," I say.

"My classmates have been training with blades since the day they learned how to walk. We are the class to beat, despite Byleth's recent achievements."

"Can we at least agree to go after Edelgard if we see the chance? I want to knock her ego down a peg."

"I can make no such promises."

Ugh. Well, teaming up is probably against the rules anyway, so I guess we can lose together in solidarity. I break off the conversation and Dimitri gives me an amicable farewell, which only annoys me further. This should serve as a reminder for me to cherish the sweet cinnamon bun Dimitri on Earth.

While wandering around the monastery, I bump into Hilda. It takes me a couple seconds to realize I don't need to ignore her in this world.

"Hey, Claude," she says. "Got any schemes cooked up for how to win this thing? I'm on board for anything that doesn't require me to work."

"Now if that isn't a mood," I say. "Unfortunately, I don't think I have much up my sleeve for this one. Dimitri was uncooperative with my idea of teaming up against Byleth and the Black Eagles."

"That's a Faerghus lord for you," Hilda says. "At least I wasn't born there. Imagine growing up in all the cold and being forced to train all the time. Ugh, I can practically feel the sweat on me and it makes me want to take a bath."

"Not to mention that chivalry is stupid," I say. "But what are you going to do? I'm going to train against axe fighters to see if I can at least stick it to Edelgard. Wanna tag along?"

"You know…" Hilda lets out a sigh. "If I can say that I defeated Edelgard, I could afford to slack off even more without my parents getting on my case. Sounds tempting."

"So you're in?"

Hilda pauses. "I have this strange feeling like I… need to make something up to you. Which is weird, because I don't think I ever did anything that pissed you off."

"Not more than the usual forcing extra work on me by shirking your duties."

"Maybe that's it." She doesn't sound convinced. "I don't like this feeling. It's great when people owe me, but not the other way around. I'll help you take out Edelgard and then any imaginary wrongdoing I did will be repaid."

"Sounds good to me. See you in training."

I gnaw on my bottom lip as I walk off. There could be a hundred reasons she feels like she needs to make something up to me. Honestly, it was probably an excuse so that I keep seeing her as lazy and expect nothing of her in the future.

Regardless, I'll take any help I can get at this point.

#

Back on Earth, Hilda does hold back on her usual strings of insults. In fact, she doesn't say a word to me for days, which is a complete upgrade so far as I'm concerned. I notice that the other students seem less on edge when we're both present as well. I should have confronted her months ago and saved all the onlookers the stress. Thank goodness for Dimitri.

Speaking of Dimitri, he relays most of what's going on with Hilda to me since she isn't talking with me now.

"She felt terrible about your family situation," Dimitri says. "I don't think she'll be causing any more trouble. Sometimes it takes both people opening up and understanding each other for anger to fade."

"And what if I had a loving family?" I say. "Would she be justified in chewing me out every time she sees me then?"

Dimitri averts his gaze.

"You don't have to answer that," I say. "I'm glad that she isn't causing trouble for you or the others. But I can't be friends with someone like her."

Not in this world, anyway. Fódlan's Hilda seems much milder, though I do need to find a solution with the nausea that comes whenever I see her.

"You confuse me, Claude," Dimitri says. "You're so gentle around most people. Even Ingrid, who said some insensitive things to you."

"That wasn't a power move like most racism is. Her views are obviously troubling, but I don't have the time to worry about people like her who can at least keep their shit on lockdown when they're not literally crashing into people."

"But then around Hilda, you remind me of a bear," Dimitri says. "Sylvain said he finds you aggressive as well."

"It's who I have to be, Dimitri. Can't survive long as a timid little kid with parents like mine."

"I… see." He stares out into the distance. "I never thought about it that way. I can see why some of that spirit might be useful."

I grin and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Dimitri. I can be an angry bear on your behalf if people start going after you."

He flashes a nervous smile. Eventually our conversation moves onto what people are doing for Valentine's Day. Most of the students have dates, and Dimitri asks if I'm going out with Dorothea. To my knowledge, she's going out with one of the students from a different homeroom class. Dimitri still hasn't found anyone to go out with, and won't budge on the mystery person he said he likes.

Eventually, I offer to watch a movie with him in the common room on Valentine's day since we're both dateless. I've never tried hooking my laptop up to a larger TV, but it shouldn't be hard.

"Are you sure?" Dimitri says. "I do believe that you're aromantic, but… do you really want to spend your Valentine's Day with just me?"

"Hey, better than being alone, which is what I normally do. What do you say?"

"If you're okay with it, then I'd be happy to watch a movie."

"Sweet. What do you want to see? Some aromantic people do actually like romance plots, but they're not my favorite."

"I'm up for anything. It will be nice not to have Sylvain yelling at characters on the screen to hook up and Felix critiquing all the fight scenes."

"I don't know how you put up with those friends of yours." I pause. "My favorite movies… how do you feel about Pixar movies? Those were the ones I always watched with Luci-with someone I was close to as a kid."

"Sounds good to me. I'll look forward to seeing what you pick."

The days pass, and one of the nice things about Valentine's Day when it does arrive is the peace and quiet we get in the halls. I take the time to catch up on my Earth homework before picking the movie _Monsters, Inc_. I loved it as a dumb little kid, and I like it even more now. Who knew people could turn a plot about corporate greed and morally ambiguous energy harvesting into a family-friendly comedy?

When Dimitri walks into the room, he smiles when he sees the title screen.

"This is one of my favorite movies," he says, "But I never want to tell anyone I watch kids' movies."

"Hey, Pixar movies legit. _A Bug's Life _freaked me out when I was a nose-picking second-grader."

Dimitri sits down next to me. "How did that happen?"

"There's a scene where the big bad grasshopper leader explains how they extort food from the ants because the cruelty itself is the point and keeps the ants down while ensuring that the grasshoppers could remain in power. It was a mindfuck for a kid like me who thought bad guys only did stuff for direct personal gain."

"Really." Dimitri smirks. "That was the scene that did you in?"

"What can I say? Insect totalitarianism was scary to seven-year-old Claude."

And I remember when Lucina was explaining racism to me as a kid, she used that example after we watched the movie together. That some groups of people were and continue to be beaten down like the ants to the point that they could only worry about surviving while the people in power grow richer.

Some kid's movie, I guess.

I overanalyze _Monsters, Inc. _in the same way, which I guess isn't new since my seven-year-old self freaked out about a grasshopper dictator. So much good material about capitalism and resource management… but unlike Dimitri's friends, I keep quiet about my thoughts and let him enjoy the movie as well.

By the time the movie finishes, I'm about ready to go to bed. Dimitri walks with me back to my room after I grab and unhook my laptop. When I fiddle with my door's sensitive lock, Dimitri clears his throat.

"I, uh… thanks," he says. "This was the first Valentine's Day I didn't have to spend alone."

I almost hug him right then and there.

"I'm grateful too," I say. "I didn't think I'd make any friends here, not after all the horror stories my mom told me about Catholic school. Being able to study with you is most of what's keeping me sane right now."

Dimitri beams, and I stand there in silence for a few seconds because I don't want the smile to fade. We say goodnight to each other and then I go into my cold, dark room.

Maybe life isn't always so bad after all.

#

I focus my next couple of weeks on my Fódlan training. I make quick improvements during that time, alongside a version of Hilda whom I end up getting along with. We both do a good job of catching each other slacking, and it's nice to eat meals with her in the mess hall after we've washed up after training. It makes me wonder what my relationship if Earth Hilda could have been if she hadn't hated my guts.

Professor Manuela manages to instruct despite still recovering from her wound from the Death Knight. Our class talks about how Professor Jeritza disappeared after Flayn and Monica were rescued, and how he was implicated as a result. The church suspects that he is the Death Knight, though there's no definitive proof and we don't know much about the Death Knight since we haven't seen him in action.

Oh, and speaking of Monica, she begins spending a _lot _of time with Edelgard. She says that she's not participating in the Battle of Eagle and Lion, but I bet they're plotting a special strategy over there. Not that they need it with Byleth to command them.

My life of training, eating, sleeping, and homework is pleasant enough, and I look forward to the times I can venture to Fódlan and train myself to exhaustion after Earth school ends. Nothing like sore muscles to clear the mind. It also helps keep me in shape, and I start to build more muscle. I try not to care too much about my appearance, but when I look in the mirror it does seem like I've gone through a glow-up from September to now.

And hey, I can afford to get a bit of an ego considering that Byleth is going to put me in my place in a week or so anyway.

Time flies by, and the day of the Battle of Eagle and Lion sneaks up on me. There's plenty of time to consider strategy and take deep breaths on the trek there, since we travel from Garreg Mach to a location fairly deep into Empire territory called Gronder Field. Apparently we have to travel all this way due to some tradition about the Adrestian Empire scored a major victory against Nemesis' army. But it was so long ago that who knows if the records are accurate? This could be similar to how Christians celebrate Jesus's birthday on December 25 even though we have no idea what day he was actually born on.

We take our positions on the field, with me and the other Golden Deer located in the southeast. I glance over at Dimitri to the west and Edelgard to the north. Both Dimitri and I brought along additional knights in training that aren't working as closely with the school's professors, but Byleth and Edelgard do not. Manuela instructed me to include the extras for additional help, but I can see what Byleth's thinking. The winner is whoever defeats the most units, not the last class standing, so Byleth can reduce the number of takedowns we get by only bringing their elite squad.

Before the fight starts, I gather the rest of the students into a huddle like it's a basketball game.

"All right, I think our only way of winning this is to play smart and exploit the rules," I say. "Whoever lands the final blow gets the credit for the takedown, so wait until you see weakened people and try to pick them off. Go for the Blue Lions first and only engage one of Byleth's students if you are _certain _you can take them down."

Lorenz McNobleface wrinkles his nose. "We do not require any of your shallow tactics, Claude. I am more than a match for both the Blue Lions and the Black Eagles. We charge the ballista and use it to take control of the battlefield."

I look over at the center of the battlefield, where Ashe has control of the ballista. Charging in there blindly is a trap.

"Oh, quiet," Hilda says. "Claude is right. If you charge in and get caught out, you are a liability. That goes for all of you here, okay? Play patient and we might have a chance of taking down Byleth's squad once they're weakened."

"That's right," Lysithea says. "The ballista isn't a problem so long as Marianne stays out of its range and can heal us. I'm guessing they'll go after Byleth's class rather than us."

When everyone around me nods, I let a smile come to my face. Maybe we can actually win this. If Dimitri and his Blue Lions can at least make a dent in Byleth's forces, there's a chance.

"Oh, and one other thing," Hilda says. "Claude and I are keeping an eye on Edelgard. Leave her to us."

Nobody puts up an argument. It takes a few minutes for all of our classes to get into position. I'm in the back, as Manuela recommended, but I am worried for Ignatz in the front. If I were the one making that battle formation, that's not where I would put an archer.

On a cliff overlooking the battlefield, I see Archbishop Rhea and some of the Knights of Seiros come into view. Rhea looks down at all of our classes, and the knights raise a banner indicating the start of the fight.

Here we go.

I yell to stay grouped up as we make a slow approach. Byleth and their students go charging south towards the ballista. If we can wait until Dimitri sends reinforcements to defend the fort, we can flank him from the other side and take out soldiers that Byleth's force weakens.

Dimitri does send more soldiers over to support Ashe, and I bite back a grin. I order us to get into position to strike from the south while Byleth attacks from the north.

Then I see figures in the sky charging towards us. Ingrid on a pegasus with additional pegasus knights flanking her on either side.

"Damn," I say. "Why can't she go after Byleth's mages and save us the trouble?"

Ingrid zips in faster than we can get into position, and rams her lance into Ignatz twice. He collapses to the ground and surrenders. I yell for people to focus their fire on Ingrid, trying to scrub out thoughts of Ingrid and Ignatz going on a Valentine's Day date on Earth. Arrows fly through the air, and I fire a shot of my own that nearly knocks her off her pegasus. Lysithea finishes the job with a Luna spell that cuts through the magic resistance that a pegasus provides, and Ingrid surrenders. We take out the other two pegasus knights without losing any more people, largely due to Hilda leading the charge with her newfound axe skills. Marianne is able to heal up our injuries afterwards.

"You fight like a woman possessed," I tell Hilda.

"Eh, don't get your hopes up. We still haven't seen Edelgard in action."

At this point, I have everyone pull back further to the south. There's a barricade between us and Dimitri, meaning he can't attack us directly. If he tries to go around it, he'll put himself in position to be sandwitched between me and Byleth.

Instead, Byleth charges first.

I tense when I see their forces barreling towards us. Fuck. I'm not sure how they managed to take the central fort so quickly when it was swarmed by Blue Lions students, but it looks like they've abandoned the ballista entirely in favor of rolling over us before we can get into proper position.

Though given what I've seen from Byleth, I'm not sure if having proper formation will save us from getting steamrolled.

Byleth halts their charge right out of the range where we could charge and attack without giving them time to respond, and turns towards the less organized Blue Lions instead. I see Dimitri approaching them, but his army is already in shambles. I look for any stragglers we can pick off and find none. If only we had someone who could fly around this damn barricade and kill steal Byleth.

"I've had enough of this cowardice, Claude," Lorenz says. "Time to make my father proud."

He starts galloping towards Byleth's forces on his horse, readying his lance. I swear under my breath, but now is an opportune time to charge while Byleth is occupied with the Blue Lions. I yell at everyone to provide cover and scramble forward.

We crash into Byleth's army at the same time that Dimitri's does. The Blue Lions remain uncoordinated, but Dimitri himself holds his own against Ferdinand and starts to win once heals from Mercedes come in. I shout to focus the mages first, and we pile onto Hubert and take him out before the Black Eagles can retaliate.

I let out a laugh as he falls. Taking out one of Byleth's students, even in a practice battle, is something only the Golden Deer can do.

Dorothea and Linhardt are too far back for us to reach, so I have us turn our attention to Bernadetta the archer next. Dorothea starts blasting us with lightning and Byleth turns their attention on us. Petra lunges with a blade in her hand and takes down Lorenz with a critical hit. Byleth uses the whipsword property of their Sword of the Creator to attack Raphael out of range and bring him down after Dorothea weakens him. But the rest of us manage to take out Bernadetta.

Two down. Let's see if we can take out another.

"You ready to give her Imperial Highness a rude awakening?" Hilda says.

I grin and nod, taking the time to catch my breath. Those of us remaining charge Edelgard. Byleth lunges and takes out Lysithea before she can support us with magic that cuts through Edelgard's armor, and Petra strafes around and takes out Marianne. Leonie nocks her bow to shoot at Edelgard, but Caspar charges her from the side and barrages her with gauntlets before she can get a shot off.

Just me and Hilda, then. We meet each other's gaze, and she nods.

Hilda lunges in first, feinting to the left and then lunging to the right. Her swings are light enough to limit recoil, but the way her muscles tense I can see the immense power. She lands a hit against Edelgard's head, sending her stumbling back. Edelgard's retaliatory strikes combined with a blast of lightning from Dorothea take Hilda down, and she raises her arms in surrender.

Down to me, then. Edelgard looks at me and her eyes narrow. I take a deep breath and nock an arrow. Even if this hits, I'm not sure if it will take her out. Hilda did a number on her, but she still looks steady on her feet.

No time for hesitation. I release, and the arrow sails through the air. It pierces her armor and slams into her stomach.

A critical hit. Edelgard raises her hands in surrender.

Perfect. We got six takedowns in total, so I think we secured second place. Good enough for-

The world blinks white around me.

#

What?

Time stops. Light colors become dark and dark colors become light, as if the entire planet turned itself onto night mode like Twitter or Reddit. I'm frozen still in place, unable to move. I can't even breathe, but I don't feel myself running out of oxygen.

Am I… stuck here?

Then time starts to rewind. I move backwards and act out my motions in reverse without my body telling me to.

And then the color reverts back to normal and I'm back to a couple of minutes ago, where we're all camped out by the barricade waiting for Byleth and Dimitri to charge.

By the time I get my bearings, I notice that Byleth is leading their students west away from us and moves to attack Dimitri from the north instead of charging us. That can't be a coincidence, right? Time rewinds and Byleth takes a different course of action. But why? They were about to secure their victory over us.

I give the order to move forward and flank the Blue Lions while Byleth engages with them. We pick off two more stragglers, increasing our takedown count to five. Byleth continues to tear through the Blue Lions's line of defense, and I grit my teeth. The only way we stand a chance of defeating them is by making them fight both the Blue Lions and us at the same time.

A one in a million chance is better than nothing, I suppose. I shout for us to start charging north and attack Linhardt and Dorothea in the rear of Byleth's army. By the time we get into position, Byleth is done with the Blue Lions and reorganizes their formation so that their frontline is facing us.

Fuck.

Lorenz charges, Byleth's army charges, and I struggle to keep track of what's going on. I fire arrows at Byleth's forces, but we're in disarray at this point. One by one my classmates fall down around me until Hilda and I are the last ones standing.

"Time to go for Edelgard again?" I say.

She frowns at me. "Don't know what you mean by again, but I'm in."

Wait, so does she not have any recollection of what happened right before time rewound? I nock an arrow as Hilda charges towards Edelgard. This time, neither of us hit weak spots, and Hilda gets taken out in a flurry of attacks. My vision goes red with pain as Caspar attacks me with gauntlets, and a dark magic blast from Hubert sends me falling to the ground. I raise my arms in surrender.

So that's it. Even though we had the power to take out Edelgard, reality rewrote itself to deny us. I've had to slog through a lot of unfortunate situations, but I don't think the fabric of existence ever turned on me before.

Byleth helps me to my feet and puts their weapon away.

"Clever strategy, blocking yourself from Dimitri with that barricade," they say.

"I was only trying to not get slaughtered. Though it looked like you were about to charge me and get yourself pincered between us and Dimitri."

A pause. "I can't say I wasn't tempted."

I glance around. "Well, it looks like you didn't lose any of your students this time, unlike the last mock battle. I hope you're happy with yourself. Think of how it feels for us, man."

They smirk. "Unless you try to kill my students, you don't have anything to worry about."

At this point, Dimitri approaches us with his stiff noble walk that bugs me more than it should.

"Congratulations, professor," he says. "That must be the most dominant victory anyone's seen at the Battle of Eagle and Lion. I can't believe you didn't suffer a single takedown."

"I can't believe it either," I say. "I know you're skilled, but it really does feel like you can see into the future and predict exactly what we're going to do."

When they take a second to study my neutral expression, I know something's up.

"What do you think, Professor?" Edelgard says. "It did seem like the other houses displayed their skills well."

Byleth purses their lips. "The Golden Deer House was strong. I hope this doesn't sound snide, but you did make me work for that victory. Congrats on second place."

"Eh, second place is the first loser so far as I'm concerned." I let out a yawn. "You know, all this fighting is making me hungry. Why don't we have a feast together one we get back to the monastery? We can turn the dining hall into a celebration for the victor this once."

"I'm looking forward to it," Byleth says.

After everyone disperses, I take a few moments to myself before rejoining with the rest of my house. When I mentioned Byleth seeing into the future, they reacted like someone worried that their secret was about to be exposed. So at a minimum, they saw the time being turned back as well. Which brings up the question of if they were involved. And if so, can they leap back in time at will?

If Byleth can do that, what hope is there of ever challenging them?

* * *

Hi, everyone! :) Hope you're all doing... as well as you can.

I was expecting for Claude and Earth Hilda to get along better, but they both refused to budge so here I am. As for the Fodlan part, I am totally the type of person to use divine pulse on this chapter even though I know I don't lose units permanently.

Oh and the part about Claude giving himself Valentine's Day candy as a kid was 100% me and I stand by that decision.


	10. Chapter 9: The Flame in the Darkness

Back in the real world, Lysithea is absent for about a week. I ask her roommate Leonie, who has no idea why Lysithea is skipping and says that she's not in the dorm room. I stay after class one day to ask Byleth about it, and they say that her absences are excused. It makes sense that they can't tell me more without violating some sort of privacy code, but it's hard not to worry after seeing the Fódlan version of my classmates come close to death multiple times.

When I try to head out of the room, Byleth asks me about a cut I have under my left eye. It takes me a moment to remember that the scar came from the Flame Emperor soldiers we fought last month in Fódlan, which wasn't fully healed due to other people needing the white magic more than me. I make up a story about getting careless with a knife. I don't think we're even supposed to have kitchen knives in the dorm, but Byleth doesn't comment.

"I'm worried about you spending so much time off on your own," Byleth says. "Especially with that person stalking you through town."

Ah, right. Creepy McCreepface was the reason I traveled to Fódlan in the first place, but I know nothing about him.

"I've lived through worse than stalkers," I say. "But I'm touched that you're worried about me, teach."

"There's a lot going on, isn't there?" Byleth says. "Don't feel like you need to get tangled up in every mystery. I don't know what you do when you disappear every evening, but it might be wise to lay low for a while."

"Is this about your lizard people conspiracy theory?"

I expect Byleth to laugh it off, but their eyes narrow instead.

"Yes," they say.

Well, okay.

"Why are you so confident that there's something going on? What aren't you telling me?"

"I can't say without…" they furrow their brow. "I still don't know who you are, Claude. I have guesses, but I can't afford to misread the situation."

"You have a talent at making everyday situations sound ominous."

"Listen. Talk to me if you see anything strange, all right?"

"I can do that, yeah."

I still don't know why Byleth is so concerned about me specifically, but at least someone cares. Between meeting them and Dimitri, I think going to this school was one of the best things that happened to me. Take that, mom.

I go to Fódlan to check on the situation and Lysithea is fine over there. I chat her up for a bit and she brushes me off to study like usual. So whatever's affecting her in the real world isn't likely stemming from Fódlan.

I'm on Earth a week later when I get a message from her.

_"Hey Claude. Do you still want to know what's up with me? It's a bit of a long story and I don't want to burden you with my problems but if you're going to be bugging me about it anyway then I might as well get this out."_

A smile comes to my face. This must be as close as she can get to leaning on a friend for support. I wonder if she feels more comfortable around me because we're not that close, so she doesn't have much to lose if shit hits the fan.

_"Sure,"_ I reply. _"When and were do you wanna meet?"_

_"I'll be at Starbucks in hour. The one closest to school."_

Ah, so that's where people get their overpriced coffee that I see them walk into class with every morning.

_"Coolio," _I send._ "See you there."_

I fly through a few assignments in the next hour before meeting Lysithea. It doesn't feel great to only do an okay job on each of them, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Turns out Iowa is still really fucking cold in March, but I decide to walk anyway so I don't have to find a place to lock up my bike. I enter the Starbucks, and a rush of warm air meets me. I don't drink coffee, but damn do our corporate overlords know how to make coffee shops have that nice earthy coffee smell.

It doesn't take me long to find Lysithea. She's sitting over in the corner with a pair of miniature cakes, one colored pink and the other colored blue. They look like the type of dessert to have way too much sugar packed into a small square, and Lysithea pops an entire one into her mouth.

"Sorry to make you come all the way here," she says. "I needed to get myself in the right mindset before talking about this."

"No worries at all. Walking in the cold is a nice warmup for training tonight."

"Didn't know you work out." Lysithea studies me. "You do look more muscular than when we first met, though."

"Thanks?"

"No compliment intended. It's a simple observation." She clears her throat. "So since you're the nosy type, I bet you were wondering why I was gone all of last week."

"We were all worried."

"Ah. My apologies, then. You see, I…" She draws in a deep breath.

"Whenever you're ready. No rush."

"Well, I was in treatment," Lysithea says. "For, ah, cancer."

Wow. I haven't dodged many bullets in my life, but I'm glad that's one of them.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I say. "Since you're back, I hope that means you're doing better?"

"Yeah, I've been getting treated for a while, actually. But it got bad within the last week. I was worried I…"

She doesn't have to finish the sentence.

"I'm glad you're here with us," I say.

"I used to be so angry." Lysithea looks down at the floor. "Now I think I'm too tired to keep it up."

"Angry at whom? Did your parents not take you to see a doctor until it was already bad?"

"No, my mother and father did everything they could. They screened me for various cancers every month, even when insurance didn't cover it. All the medical care we sought out for me meant my parents lost most of their life's savings."

I wish that surprised me. Guess I've heard too many horror stories about the American healthcare system from my mom.

"Well, I hope you and your parents are doing as well as you can," I say. "It sounds like you had a reason to suspect that this might happen. I don't want to be too forward…"

"I don't have a genetic predisposition to cancer, either. At least, not so far as I know. Think more… environmental effects."

"Ah."

But that doesn't explain much at all. If her parents played the situation well, then it couldn't be a secondhand smoke issue. And her pale skin meant she wasn't going to tanning salons.

"Claude," Lysithea says. "Is it okay if I tell you something crazy?"

"Trust me, it takes a lot to surprise me at this point."

"Okay." Lysithea inhales. "How much do you know about rational Satanist cults?"

"I know the basic ideology. Most of them are far-right groups with an emphasis on racism, fascism, hedonism, et cetera. Am I missing anything?"

"Right. White supremacists with a dash of the same Randian objectivism that libertarians and conservatives love. They believe the world only exists for their benefit, and to fuel their twisted pleasures they'll pillage the land, wildlife and…" a pause. "And they'll turn people into their tools as well."

"It sounds like they're more proactive than I realized," I say. "I confess I always thought of them more as an ideological movement."

"For every ideology like fascism, there is a political group to enact its will like the Nazis. For every ideology like white supremacy, there is a terrorist group like the Ku Klux Klan. For every ideology like rational Satanism, there is a cult like Those who Slither in the Dark."

"I take it you've dealt with these people?"

"They're batshit crazy," she says. "And they can afford to be, because nobody has the power to stop them. They went looking for 'good families' to take children and experiment on them."

"Oh god."

"My family isn't uber-rich, but we have a lot of old money. So they took my siblings and I, and they…"

"If it's too painful," I say, "You don't have to keep going."

"They wanted to awake extrasensory powers in us," Lysithea says.

"Like… telepathy and telekinesis?"

"Claude, can I show you something?"

"Uh, sure?"

Lysithea closes her eyes and puts her hands on the table. The next moment, the remaining blue cake cube hovers a few inches above the plate, bobbing up and down. She opens her eyes and the cake continues floating. I glance behind me to see if anyone's watching.

"It's okay, Claude." Her voice is hardly more than a whisper. "I've done this before. People who see are convinced that it's a magic trick."

She snatches the cake out of the air and pops it into her mouth. I mean, for all I know the floating could have been a wacky magician's trick. Maybe she had a thread attached to it, with a contraption that-

I shake my head. It doesn't make sense for Lysithea to open up only to tell some outlandish lie that I shouldn't buy in the first place.

"But you believe me." Lysithea meets my gaze. "Don't you?"

"I suppose I do."

"You know, the leader of that group was a man with no pupils. He wore black armor with red feathers sticking up from the shoulderpads and the back of the armor."

I feel the blood drain from my face. Creepy McCreepface. It has to be.

"So you do know him," Lysithea says. "He wasn't present often, and I assumed it was him attending to bigwig matters like paperwork and internal politics. But Thales wasn't exactly careful about what he let slip around me. He talked about 'this world' as if he came from another one. And he called us 'reflections,' like we weren't real. It was as if we were characters in a video game."

Thales. So that's his name.

"And when I manifested the ability to… you know." Lysithea coughs into a fist. "He implied that it was a result of energy leaking over from where he was from."

Two realities brushed up against each other… I wonder what other effects that led to.

"Did he say anything about the place he was from?"

"He had a name for it. Fódlan."

I exhale. At least now I have a direction to chase when digging up library books over there.

"You definitely recognize the name." Lysithea pauses. "Are you… also from Fódlan?"

"Not from there, but this Thales you encountered fired some magic at me that allowed me to travel there. I'm guessing that's not what he intended."

Lysithea smiles. "I knew there was something about you."

"What made you so sure?"

"Ignatz is easy to intimidate. After enough prodding he mentioned you disappearing right in front of his eyes."

Guess it's a miracle that secret's lasted this long.

"But you don't seem to be a threat like Thales was," Lysithea says. "So I'm not going to kill you. Not yet, at least."

"Much appreciated."

She cocks her head. "That was supposed to get a reaction out of you."

"Reacting doesn't help either of us. I'll try to figure out what Thales is up to. I'll kill him if I need to. For both of us."

"Like I said, I'm too tired to be angry. But if you do go after him, watch your back. He was sloppy about this because he views Earth as his playground, but I think he and others like him can change their appearance to look more human. I'm confident that they can even disguise themselves as a specific person."

So I have to suspect everyone in Fódlan of being a magic doppelganger, huh?

"How frequently can they adopt a new persona?" I say.

"Not often, I think. I was able to notice when a neighbor's personality took a sudden shift."

So that could be one way to weasel them out.

"Well, thanks for your help," I say. "I'll let you know how things go over there."

"Please do. And I still need to ask you something."

"Shoot."

"What Thales and the others did to my body… even if I recover from the cancer, what they did to me still stays. The cancer comes back shortly after. I've seen it happen. And I know that my body can't handle treatment forever."

At the end, Lysithea's voice starts to shake. I want to pull her into a hug but I know that she'll push me away.

"So what would you do?" Lysithea says. "Suppose you have five to ten years left. Much of that time is going to be spent in pain. Where do you go from there?"

I need to think about the answer for more than a minute, because it's never something I've considered before. I don't group myself with other teenagers who think themselves invincible, not after that time Lucina saved me, but I was taking for granted that there _could _be a future ahead of me.

"If it were me," I say, "I'd focus on making friends. Maybe even try to fall in love. I know I'd feel bad for leaving him—uh—them so soon, but I don't know what else gives me meaning. Though I think it's different for me to have an outlet in Fódlan as well."

I almost tell her about the people dying in Fódlan corresponding to real-life deaths, but she already has enough on her plate without needing to worry about dropping the moment her doppelganger croaks.

"I don't think that's an option for me," she says. "I'm not going to let my parents fall to ruin due to my medical debt. I hope I can live long enough to get a high-paying job that lets them retire comfortably after I'm gone."

"That's admirable," I say. "Really, it is. But if your parents poured that much into keeping you as healthy as possible, I'm sure they want you to enjoy the years that you have left."

"I… suppose you're right." Her confident poise returns. "It's good to pick your mind about this, Claude. That's all I wanted to ask you."

She stands up and pushes her chair in.

"One more thing," I say. "You said that your siblings went through the same experience as you. I assume you asked them what they want to do with their lives?"

Lysithea closes her eyes. "I guess I didn't mention that part. I was the only one who survived the procedures."

"Oh… oh god."

"Thales was able to get away with it because he's connected with the police."

"Ah. That does let you kill people."

I stop my mind from going back to the moment of gravel and blood. I can't afford to relive that scene now when I'm this busy.

Lysithea raises an eyebrow at my comment. When it's clear I'm not going to elaborate, she sighs. "I will think on your advice, Claude. I hope you have a good rest of your day."

She turns away and walks out the door. When I hear it close behind her, I exhale and shake my head.

I think I'm going to need a few days to process this.

#

After those few days, I take a few hours over the course of the next two weeks researching Thales and shapeshifters in Fódlan. The fact that Lysithea knows I've been travelling there is concerning, but it's hardly a believable story to anyone on Earth. One nice thing about spending fourteen hours a day studying for two schools is that I don't have time to panic.

Eventually the librarian Tomas in Fódlan notices that I'm flipping through various books and asks me if I'm looking for anything in particular.

"I'm trying to track down a specific person," I say. "I have a name for them, but I doubt that's how they'll appear in the records. They can use magic to take the appearance of other people."

Tomas pauses at this, staying still for long enough that I consider repeating myself.

"I will be right back," he says.

A few minutes later, he returns with an open book showing a picture of a white dragon.

"I'm not sure why you're confident that this person can change their appearance with magic, as there are no recorded cases of that happening," Tomas says, "But this is what I thought of when you brought up the idea. This creature is known as the Immaculate One."

I know in D&D, adult dragons can turn into humans. Maybe dragons are similar in this world. In that case, Thales being an evil dragon is my best hypothesis.

"The Immaculate One was created to carry out the Goddess' will," Tomas says, "But after the Goddess left the world, some people say that the creatures she created to rule over us disguised themselves as humans and pull strings from the shadows. I wouldn't put much stock in it myself, if not for…"

"If not for what?"

"Oh, Seteth curates the library books carefully. Don't want to expose students to blasphemy, after all. But any knowledge about the Immaculate One or similar creatures is disposed of whenever it pops up. Isn't that odd? It makes sense for the church to spread the word about the benevolent creatures that worked for the Goddess, unless…"

"Unless the church is still involved with them, and wants to keep their existence a secret."

Tomas nods. "Some knowledge is dangerous. Take care to whisper when you speak of such matters."

I cross my arms. "So why tell me this when you're employed by the church?"

Tomas smiles and walks away without answering me. Okay, then. I read through the parts of the book discussing legends of the Immaculate One. Apparently dragons and other celestial beasts were common back when the Goddess was more active in the world, but much knowledge about them has been lost to time.

The book does mention the hypothesis that these creatures integrated with society, as many had no recorded deaths and were known to transform. The author puts it in a less menacing way than Tomas did, but I can start to get the picture of a group of dragon-people ruling Fódlan from behind the scenes. Honestly, it sounds like an illuminati conspiracy theory.

And that's when it clicks.

Byleth knows about this. They must. Why else research lizard-people conspiracy theories over on Earth? If they can gather clues in the real world about people capable of transformation, they can track the Fódlan version of those people down.

It's still crazy. I can buy magical transformations in this fantasy world, but not everything gets transferred from Fódlan to Earth. I see Linhardt, Dorothea, and Hubert use magic all the time in Fódlan, but obviously magic doesn't exist in the real…

Well, I suppose I did see Lysithea levitate a Starbucks cake cube. She said it was due to energy leaking over from Fódlan, so maybe that same energy allows people to transform. And since there's no clear way to sever the connection between dimensions, figuring out who's sharpening knives in the shadows is a prudent course of action.

I can't believe I'm buying this idea of lizard-people ruling Earth and Fódlan alike from the darkness. Byleth must be off their rocker. I'm guessing that the Immaculate One is treated like Christian angels, meaning that there are people who believe they exist in flesh and blood but it's more faith than history.

Hubert approaches me while I'm thinking and sits down across from me at the table. The combination of Mikey Mouse gloves and emo boy hairstyle means I have to bite down the urge to smile.

"It's rare to see you without Edelgard," I say. "You studying for a test, or…"

"I couldn't help but overhear you talking to Tomas about the Immaculate One."

"Mm. Strange way for a librarian to act, don't you think?"

"I'm more curious what you think, actually." The right corner of his mouth twitches upward. "Do you think there are monsters lurking in the shadows, disguising as humans?"

I think back to Lysithea's words on Earth. We don't know for sure if Thales is a dragon, especially since his creepy human appearance doesn't exactly help him blend in.

"I so think there's more going on than meets the eye," I say. "For starters, we know that the Flame Emperor and the Death Knight are sowing terror in the background. Do you have any idea why they targeted Flayn?"

"Not particularly. And I doubt that those people are creatures in disguise. It's easier to operate from institutions of power if you can disguise yourself into whomever you want rather than act as rogue insurgents."

Not a bad point. "Such as people in high positions of the Kingdom, Empire, Alliance, and…"

Hubert leans in. "And?"

"And the Church of Seiros," I say.

"In that case, we are on the same page," Hubert says. "My father is the Empire's spymaster, and has trained me to deal with all manner of imposters from a young age. When you look a little deeper, you will see that the Church of Seiros is not as pure as it wants you to believe."

"And if you're involved in the business of espionage, I'm sure you're not telling me this out of the goodness of your heart. Why shouldn't I suspect you of misleading me?"

"Oh, don't take my word for it. I'm telling you because I want the future leader of the Leicester Alliance to be unsurprised if we dig up rats working for the church. In that regard, I doubt the Alliance Lords will object to us uncovering spies within the church, even if they are important religious figures."

He leaves the rest unsaid, but I get the gist of it. The Alliance Lords want freedom from the church, and a weakened central church if our dear Linkin Park fanboy here is able to unearth a scandal means an opportunity for them to consolidate their power.

"Trying to change the world always causes a stir," Hubert says, "But Lady Edelgard and I are dedicated to uncovering the truth. And to that end, we want you on our side."

"No promises," I say, "But there is a lot about this world I want to see changed."

"Of course. I am merely trying to make you… aware of what is going on behind your back."

That sounds like it could be a threat, but his tone of voice makes everything sound like a threat. Hubert brushes some dust off his gloves and stands up. I keep my face neutral as he walks away.

So both Byleth and Hubert know bits about dragons that can masquerade as people. Regardless of whether Thales is one of these lizard-people, keeping my eyes peeled for more information about them can't hurt.

Unless it gets people on my trail. Then it could definitely hurt. I had better keep my research on the down-low from here on out.

#

A few days later, Byleth informs me that their mission this month is to investigate strange occurrences in Remire Village. It takes me a moment to remember that the location is the same area where I first entered Fódlan and Byleth saved my ass alongside their father Jeralt.

"I do hate to ask you for help so often," Byleth says, "But I do worry about your safety when I can't keep an eye on you."

Their words make me realize how much I want a hug. I remind myself that Byleth isn't Lucina, and that I can't expect a teacher to be my older sibling figure like she was.

"Always happy to assist," I say. "What's going on there?"

"I haven't been told much more than you," Byleth says. "Manuela suspects that curses and dark magic are at play. I don't know the specific symptoms."

And she didn't tell me? I suppose she has no reason to blab about a top-secret mission, but what Byleth's saying seems like a big enough deal that I'm surprised Manuela had time to fully instruct us.

"See you at the end of the month, then," I say.

Byleth nods, and when I tell they're not going to say anything I turn around to walk away.

"Hey Claude."

I look over my shoulder. "Hm?"

"Do you believe in the Goddess?"

"Considering I'm at a religious school, I don't think I'm allowed to say no."

"Shamir and Cyril are from foreign territories, and they don't follow Fódlan's religion. Rhea doesn't pressure them into it."

Huh. Maybe there's some hope for religion here after all.

"Why are you asking?" I say.

"Color me curious." They wave a hand in dismissal. "It's fine. Your dancing around the topic is an answer in itself."

"Is it the one you were looking for?"

"I'm not sure what I was looking for."

Byleth opens their mouth to say more, but then closes it. There has to be a reason they asked. It looks like they want to speak about it further, which makes me wonder what's prompting their hesitation. If even a Knight of Seiros like Shamir doesn't follow the Fódlan religion, surely Byleth can't be nervous if they don't believe in the Goddess.

Perhaps I shouldn't trust them with the wall of secrets they hide behind. Though a lot of the mystery was coming from Earth Byleth, wasn't it? For most people I can keep their Fódlan and Earth versions separate, but Byleth's two forms fuse together in my mind.

I have more questions than ever before, and now I'm wondering if my allies are the people they seem like.

#

The weeks pass, and at the end of the month I set out to Remire Village with the Black Eagles class and Byleth. Flayn is also joining us, and I'm informed that she's part of Byleth's class now. I'm surprised that Seteth trusts anyone at all with keeping his sister safe, but considering how Byleth destroyed us during the Battle of the Eagle and Lion I think it's a safe bet.

Byleth's father Jeralt is also joining us, and Byleth spends the short trip talking business with him. I chat up various Black Eagles students along the way, and the entire time I notice Hubert keeping an eye on me. I try to provoke him by teasing Edelgard, and to his credit he doesn't budge.

Being in battles taught me that there's a lot of waiting, and that the action doesn't always come at expected times. When we're approaching Remire Village, we hear sounds of fighting and Byleth yells at us to get our gear ready. I draw my trusty bow and follow behind the others.

The first thing I see when I arrive is a fight between two villagers. The next moment I see that one of the villagers is trying to scramble away from the other, who has murder in her eyes and lumbers forward like a zombie. She carries a blade and swings it at the unarmed villager, slicing his leg. He falls to the ground, blood soaking his pants.

I hesitate. If the attacker is an innocent person being possessed, can I bring myself to shoot them?

A blast of dark magic flies over my shoulder and knocks the attacker to the ground. I look back to see dark wisps floating off Hubert's fingertips, his brow furrowed in concentration.

"Damn it," Jeralt says. "At least we got here when we did."

I hear many of the Black Eagles students freaking out, and I relegate them to the back of my mind as I survey the village. Most people are either attacking in a crazed frenzy or scrambling for their lives, but a group of armed people on the far side of the village are standing still, observing the scene.

"Do you think those people might be responsible?" I say, pointing towards the onlookers.

"Good eye," Byleth says. "Let's advance towards them. Engage the crazed villagers, and do your best to knock them out. But don't take any chances if your life or someone else's is in danger. Don't attack the people in the back unless they act aggressive, but assume that they're foes for now. But our first priority is to protect the fleeing villagers."

Byleth breaks us off into different groups. Jeralt and some of the students will go down the center path, which is the most straightforward way to the mysterious onlookers but is obscured by forest. Edelgard will lead a group west where villagers are fleeing, and Byleth commands me to go with them to the east where civilians are also located.

"Let's move quickly and use full force to take our enemies down," Byleth says. "We'll never get to all the villagers in time to save them otherwise."

They bolt off, giving me no time to respond. I book it after them, firing shots at the crazed villagers trying to approach Byleth from the side. As we get closer, I get a better look at the onlookers on the far side of town.

"What the hell is Tomas doing with them?" Byleth says.

The librarian? I take another glance and see a man in white robes that does look like him in the middle of the armed onlookers. Tomas smirks, and the next moment he's encased in darkness. When the shadows fade someone else entirely is standing in his place. His new appearance is still humanoid in shape but has a giant veiny forehead that makes him look like Megamind from that one movie I never watched.

"You were so easily fooled by my disguise." Megamind's voice carries across the battlefield. "My name is Solon. Do you like our experiment?"

Byleth lets out a low growl as they continue to advance. Keeping up with them leaves me nearly out of breath. Most of my fights with Byleth so far have been remarkably clean and orderly, with us luring enemies into traps and positioning to always have the numbers advantage. Instead, this battle feels like a frenzy. Byleth doesn't take the time to give us specific orders, and when I look over at the rest of the students I can see that most of them have cuts and bloodstains.

Then I look forward and see why Byleth is abandoning their usual tactics. There's a group of civilians up ahead, and the possessed villagers are starting to corner them. Many of the townspeople are bruised or bleeding.

I ignore my lungs screaming for more air and keep pushing forward. Byleth and I hit the crazed villagers like a whirlwind. I provide cover fire while they charge in, and then fend off the few that sneak around them and attack me. Byleth engages more of them than I do, but after I take a few hits I can tell I'm in worse condition.

"How do you… do this?" I say.

"My crest keeps me healthy. Think you can keep going?"

I gasp for air and nod. Byleth charges forward. I focus my fire on the ones that ignore them and charge me. My arms are exhausted from firing so many shots, but I manage to keep my aim steady and make each arrow count. Byleth cuts through enemies with the Sword of the Creator like a knife through butter. I'm hoping that the people I shoot aren't dead, but I don't have time to check. Staying alive is the only thing that matters right now.

With our combined efforts, Byleth and I manage to fend off all the attackers chasing after the civilians. The villagers take a moment to thank us before darting away from the battlefield. At this point, we're close to Solon, and Byleth fixes their gaze towards him.

"Only a little more," they say. "Follow my lead, Cla-" Their eyes widen. "Behind you!"

While I turn to look, an arrow slams into my throat. My vision goes red. I can't feel my body. Am I falling? Am I… dying? Is it the pain or the shock that keeps me from seeing? That keeps me from thinking?

Think, Claude.

Think.

I can't die here.

I can't…

The pain fades. I open my eyes, and the world exists in different shades of dark grey. I try to move my body but it doesn't respond. I can't breathe but I don't seem to need air.

This is what happened during the Battle of Eagle and Lion. Is Byleth doing this?

The world goes back to its normal colors and time resumes, but I don't have an arrow in my neck anymore. I whirl around to see an archer winding up for an attack. I nock an arrow and take them out in one smooth motion before they get a chance to fire it.

A force slams into me the next moment, and when I pull my blade out of my sheath I see that Byleth was the one who tackled me to the ground.

"Sorry. Thought that archer was going to shoot you. It should have…"

Byleth hops to their feet and hoists me up.

"How did you know they were there?" Byleth says.

"Is this the time to talk about it? What matters is that I don't have an arrow in my throat. Let's go after Solon."

"But how did you know they were aiming for…" Their eyes narrow. "You remember."

"Getting shot? Am I not supposed to?"

"Not when I rewind time." They glance over at Solon. "Let's talk about this later. If you can fire off a curved shot at max range, he won't be able to counterattack you. Then I'll have enough damage to leap in and finish him off."

I'm not sure why Byleth is so confident in that assessment, but I'm not going to question them now. I do what they tell me to and fire off a curved shot at the furthest range I practiced shooting at in my training sessions at the monastery. My arrow flies into Solon's shoulder, and he lets out a grunt.

Byleth lets out a war cry and charges forward. They slice Solon once across the chest, and he staggers backwards. Byleth rushes in for another attack. Solon blocks the next blow with his staff.

"My work here is done," Solon says. "You did nothing to stop our plans from coming to fruition."

Solon warps away the next second, leaving Byleth to strike only air. The rest of the soldiers on his command retreat after he leaves. I'm out of range to take parting shots, and Byleth orders us not to pursue and tend to the wounded civilians instead. Which is fine by me, since I'm not sure I even have the strength to nock another arrow.

"Sorry for putting you in such a dangerous situation," Byleth says. "I thought it was the best chance to save all the civilians…"

"Did we save all of them?"

"I think so."

"Then it looks like you made the right choice."

Byleth stares at me. "You nearly died, Claude."

"But I didn't. Besides, it's not the first time."

"You'll have to tell me about that sometime. I take it this wasn't under my command?"

At this point, Byleth's father Jeralt approaches us, along with the Black Eagles students he's with.

"Oh, goodness," Linhardt says. "You both look terrible."

His hands glow, and some of my wounds close. I nod in thanks, still catching my breath.

"Ah," comes a different voice. "I shouldn't be surprised to see you here."

I jerk my head in the direction of the sound to see the Flame Emperor, full DeviantArt OC mask and all. It looks a lot less intimidating when I see that they're a whole 5' 2".

"You must be the Flame Emperor," Jeralt says. "Here to finish what your friends started?"

"This was not my intention," they say. "If I knew what Solon and the others were doing, I would have stopped it. You have my word."

"Would have, should have," I say, "You worked with the Death Knight to kidnap Flayn and Monica. Don't pretend you're above this."

"You know," the Flame Emperor says, "Considering that we all want to stop Solon and his accomplices, it will be beneficial for you to join my forces."

Byleth studies the Flame Emperor. "If you wish to stop them, show us with your actions next time. Then we'll talk about a truce to fry some bigger fish."

"Better answer than I was expecting," the Flame Emperor says. "For now I'll take my leave."

Jeralt readies his lance. "Oh no you don't-"

The Flame Emperor makes a spellcasting hand motion and vanishes from sight. The ol' teleport away for plot convenience trick doesn't even bother me. I'm too tired to care. Plus I'm covered head to toe in blood and mud. I need a shower.

"Say, where are the others?" Linhardt says. "You sent Dorothea, Edelgard, and Hubert off to handle the west side, right? I don't see any sign of them."

"I'd know if they were incapacitated or killed," Byleth says, "But I don't know where they are right this moment. Let's regroup."

Nobody bats an eye at Byleth's first statement. We tend to the civilians as much as we can and meet up with the rest of the students. I don't remember much of the ride back, other than Byleth talking to me once they got away from their students.

"So, is now a good time to discuss what you saw?" Byleth says.

"I think you're the one who needs to do the explaining here, not me," I say. "You can rewind time at will?"

"It has limited uses. And it's something that's… granted to me. It makes me wonder if you've noticed anything odd about yourself that could make you notice when I use the ability while others don't."

"This was granted to you by whom?" I say.

"Anything strange?" Byleth says. "I'm not sure what I'm looking for, but I'm here to listen."

The only thing that comes to mind is my Falchion pendant, but I don't want to get into explaining what it is since the metalcrafting looks different from what I find here in Fódlan. Best not to raise too many questions about my past.

"I'm not exactly inclined to answer your questions when you dodge mine," I say.

Byleth lets out a sigh. "I'm sorry, Claude. For being so secretive, and for putting you in danger. I wish I could open up and tell you everything. But dealing with Solon makes me think that we're getting involved in a mess we know nothing about. And I don't want to drag you in there with me."

"You can trust me to strike you down if you turn into a demonic beast, but not to say where your powers come from?"

A pause. Byleth looks off into the distance for a few minutes, and their eye twitches every so often.

"I think… I was granted the power to turn back time from the Goddess," Byleth says.

So that was why they were asking if I believe.

"Does it have something to do with your crest?" I say.

"Perhaps. Your crest doesn't… give you any special spiritual connection, does it?"

"Not as far as I'm aware."

Byleth lets out a sigh. "Thought so. Thanks anyway, Claude. I know my secrets are annoying to you, but they're also quite annoying to me. I didn't ask to be this way."

"If that power has to exist, I'm glad it's in your hands and not the enemy's. I mean, it already saved my life."

"But I was the one who endangered it," Byleth says.

"Doing so allowed us to reach the villagers faster and save all them. Your secrets do infuriate me a bit, but you're doing all right, teach."

My shoulders relax when I see them smile in response. My situation is even messier than before now that I have to deal with transforming dark mages and legends of lizard-people, but that gives me an opportunity to work with Byleth to protect Fódlan so my real-life friends stay safe.

I hope that trusting them isn't a mistake.

* * *

**First of all, happy birthday to Claude! I live in Pacific Time, so it's still the 24th when I'm posting this. The madlads at Nintendo of America even wished him a happy birthday with upside-down text. **

**Also in personal FE news, I finally got around to playing and beating Silver Snow. I only used units not from the three houses except dancer Dorothea, and in with those restrictions sniper Shamir is a monster. Hunter's volley is such a fun combat art. **

**Also replaying the game made me realize how much stuff happens in each of these chapters. I had to introduce Solon when Tomas really wasn't important... like, how many people saw that Tomas was Solon and went "Oh my _god, _not my favorite character Tomas"? And then I had to put the Flame Emperor in there, though I decided not to have the mini-scene with Hubert talking about you-know-who going missing. It doesn't help him to bring attention to that.**

**Speaking of Hubert and the Empire, I think from a logical standpoint they should be trying to win over the Alliance lords for political influence, and there's no reason why he can't put out feelers early on. **

**Hope you all have a great day! :)**


	11. Chapter 10: Another Voyager

A few days into April, I'm studying in my room when get a call from someone who isn't in my contacts list. I'm about to decline the call when I see that the area code is 206, meaning it's from Seattle. Still could be a spam call, but I decide to take a chance and accept.

"Hey, is this Claude Riegan?"

That voice. "Lucina?"

"Oh, it is you. Your voice sounds so much deeper now. How long has it been?"

"Seven years. Where have you been all this time? How did you get my new number?"

"Oh, I stalked you on the internet," Lucina says. "I've been… well, right now I'm in Tokyo."

But that's not where she's spent the last seven years. "Right. I forgot your parents were from Japan."

"Where are you right now? Your social media goes dead silent at the start of September. I was worried that you were…" she takes a deep breath. "But I'm guessing that school is keeping you busy."

"You could say that. And don't worry about me, Lu. I can protect myself now."

"I know you could back then as well, but there's only so much you can do. Not even the strongest person in the world is safe once they set their eyes on you."

True enough. Mortal fear is something that I have to accept at this point, but I don't want to make Lucina sad by telling her that.

"I'm in Iowa," I say. "Attending a Catholic school called Garreg Mach."

A pause. "Doesn't sound like a Catholic name."

"You know those jokes about Catholic school ensuring that people won't be Catholic? My mom took them seriously and is sending me there for that purpose. But I've made some friends that I value."

Some friends… and a teacher that reminds me of her. That's too weird for me to say in front of her, right?

"Cool," Lucina says. "I'll be back off the grid for a while soon, but I do have a few weeks here. Why don't I swing by your school and hang out for a few days?"

"Will they let you into the country?"

I hear a sigh from the other end. "I told you my departure wasn't connected to that."

"And I think you lied to me."

"Ah." She clears her throat. "Guess seven years gives you plenty of time to work through the truth. I'm sorry for deceiving you."

"You have nothing to apologize for. But I'm not going to let you set visit me if the police are sharpening their knives and waiting to strike at you the moment you set foot in this country."

"If you're worried about getting dragged into my mess, we can discuss-"

"I'm worried about _you,_ Lu. How hard is that to understand?"

I take a moment to collect myself. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Each night when I could hear my parents screaming at each other I dreamed of the days I spent with Lucina visiting the fish markets and hiking the forest trails outside the city. But one day is all it takes for that world to come crashing down on my head.

"Right now, all I want is to see you again," Lucina says. "Plus, we're not as vulnerable as you might think. Did you figure what was up with the Falchion charm I gave you?"

"Don't tell me you're from there as well."

"From…" The other end goes quiet. "Claude, what are you talking about?"

So she doesn't know. "In that case, the charm did… something other than what you anticipated."

"We need to meet in person and talk," Lucina says. "I don't know what's going on, but I fear for your safety if I can't share what I know with you."

"And you can't talk about it now?"

"I need to see the charm. If it malfunctioned, I must know why."

Maybe that's not the worst idea. Considering that Thales did use dark magic on the charm, it could be dangerous to me in ways I can't anticipate.

"Fine," I say. "But you have to promise me that you'll be careful."

"Careful is my middle name. I'll see you soon, Claude."

"See you soon."

Lucina hangs up the call, and I slump back in my chair. Seeing her again was supposed to be a dream come true, not another source of stress.

I should have known better. People like me don't get fairytale endings.

#

I check Facebook to see that Lucina sent me a friend request. I haven't used my Facebook seriously in years, but messenger gives us a place to coordinate a meeting time and place so long as we don't say anything too sensitive that Zuckerberg's robotic gaze falls upon us.

Lucina manages to get a flight in a couple of days to Middle-of-fuck-nowhere, Iowa through Portland and then Denver. She tells me she hasn't flown anywhere in years, and is interested to explore the Portland airport during her layover since it's apparently one of the top-rated international airports in the country.

On the day of her flight, she messages me when she makes it through customs to the US and again when she arrives in Iowa. We arrange a pickup spot right outside the school and she pulls up in a rental car that's swankier than I'm expecting.

Lucina rolls down the window, and I'm taken aback by how she doesn't look a day older than when I knew her. I've kept my memory of her up-to-date by occasionally going through all the pictures we had together, and she still looks like she's in her late teens same as she did seven years ago.

"Hey, Lu," I say. "What's up with that car? You secretly rich?"

"Something like that. Do you still get carsick?"

"My dad said I was going to grow out of it, but it still hasn't happened yet. So try not to lurch too much."

"I promise I'll do better than your parents."

"There are literal chimpanzees who are better drivers than them, Lu."

"So your expectations should be sufficiently low for someone who hasn't driven in seven years. Ready to hop in the car?"

"If I die because of your driving, my spirit is going to haunt you."

"Relax. Everything's going to be fine."

I grunt and hop into the front passenger seat. I don't think to ask where we're going until after Lucina starts driving.

"Turns out there are some good wetlands parks in Iowa," Lucina says. "I was thinking we could chill there and catch up on what's been going on in the past seven years. You look like a totally different person with how much you've grown."

"Puberty does that. Bet my voice is about an octave deeper as well."

"It's definitely weird, but I'll try not to mother you too much about that."

"Mm." I look out the window. "I know this is a faux pas, but how old _are _you?"

She laughs. "No worries, Claude. Too bad it's a complicated question to answer."

"Complicated how?"

"We'd better talk about the Falchion pendant I gave you first. But before we do that, I want to hear what's happened in your life."

Yeesh, has Lucina always been this dodgy around questions? Maybe that's the real reason why Byleth reminds me of her.

By the time we make it to the wetlands park and Lucina parks the car, I've managed to get through most of what's happened leading up to my move to Iowa. There's not much to say, really. She knew that my parents didn't get along, even back then.

"I wish I were with you every step of the way," Lucina says. "But I'm proud of you for navigating such a difficult school and home life."

Proud. I can't remember the last time anyone said they were proud of me. I can already tell that I'm less tense around Lucina than I am in general.

Is this what it's like to be able to rely on someone?

Lucina leads me over to the start of the wetlands trail past the visitors' center. At the head of the path is a lone park bench that looks out at a gurgling stream.

"Since we have a lot to talk about, do you want to sit there while we catch up?" Lucina says. "We have plenty of time to walk the trails afterwards."

"Ah, so your stamina can't handle a real hike anymore."

Lucina snorts. "Please. I'm in marathon shape right now."

I don't know about her leg muscle because of her jeans, but when she crosses her arms I can see that she's even more ripped than I remember. Not full bodybuilder muscle or anything, but muscular like a repairperson who's been at the job for years.

"I'm happy to sit by the stream and chat away the day," I say.

After all, this might be the last chance I have to see her.

"So maybe you're the one with the stamina issues," Lucina says.

"I'll defend myself with actions rather than words after I finish telling you my life's story."

"Ever the humble man."

"Ah, that reminds me," I say. "Turns out I'm nonbinary. Thanks for explaining gender to me that time a while back, because my parents sure as hell weren't going to do it."

"I'm glad it helped. I hope this goes without saying, but I'll do everything I can to see you for the person you are. What pronouns do you use?"

God, how does she always know what to say? "He and they."

Lucina nods. "Now, I believe you had a life's story to finish telling me?"

I walk over and plop down on the bench. After spending so many hours over the past six months studying and training, I forgot how nice it was to sit still and watch the water go by in front of me. When Lucina takes a seat next to me, I watch her stare out at the stream.

"Do you miss the forests back in the Pacific Northwest?" Lucina says.

"Eh, didn't see them that often in Seattle anyway. How about you and leaving our lush forests for Japan?"

"A lot of the scenery in smaller towns looks quite a bit like the conifer forests back in Washington, actually. I went to some touristy locations when I was bored and everyone seemed was amazed by forests that I thought looked pretty basic."

"Maybe you're hard to impress," I say.

"Maybe. When it comes to trees or people, that's probably true. Trees have big trunks and a bunch of leaves. They're cool, but I'm never awestruck by one."

"And what about people?"

"They're fine. But again, I'm not going to be awestruck by something a person does most of the time."

"Sounds like you need to watch more viral videos, then. People do some pretty crazy shit."

"Ah, Claude, who taught you how to swear?"

"I believe that was you."

"Was it? I don't remember that." Lucina leans back. "I did love the streams and rivers in Japan, though. They were so clear that it was like watching liquid glass."

"Maybe I'll channel my inner weeb and visit sometime," I say. "Will you be heading back there?"

"Yeah, but I'll be off the grid again so I don't know how easily we could arrange a visit."

Off the grid in Japan? I ate that up when Lucina told me that when she was leaving the first time, but now I'm wondering. How much of Japan doesn't have cell service or internet? And even for places that don't, it can't be hard to get back on the grid occasionally with the train system they have.

"How long were you actually in Seattle?" I say. "It felt like such a big chunk of my life, but it wasn't long."

"I don't remember, exactly. Time changes its meaning when you're away from civilization. But right now I'm interested in hearing what you've been up to. Catholic school in Iowa sounds like quite an experience."

"Well, I have to start a bit before then."

I recount what happened that night I was working at McDonald's when Thales stalked me, ending the story at me blacking out.

"So a ball of dark energy hit you close to where the Falchion charm was?" Lucina furrows her brow. "Ah, I see. That's not good."

"You seem to be taking this in stride."

"Yes. I knew that magic is real, though not in the manner you're probably thinking. Nevertheless, this makes it easy to tell you more about the charm. May I see it?"

"Sure, but don't touch it directly."

I haven't told Lucina about going to Fódlan yet, but if she recognizes Thales' dark magic then I'm sure she knows to be cautious. I take the necklace off and hand it to Lucina. She studies it for a few seconds and then frowns.

"Should have paid more attention when Morgan was showing me how to identify enchanted objects," Lucina mutters.

"Is this someone I know?"

"Not directly. You can thank her for saving your life, though. This Thales person was likely trying to kill you, but the charm protected you from his magic. It looks like his attack did ruin the enchantment she put on it, though."

"Err, what did the enchantment do?"

"It apparently protected you against magical attacks, but that wasn't its main purpose. I asked her to make a mind-effecting enchantment that repels people seeking to harm you."

"So that comment you made to me about the charm keeping me safe…"

"Right," Lucina says. "I didn't lie, and I wasn't about to abandon you to the cops."

"But you said the enchantment is broken, right?"

"From what I can tell, yes."

"So if there are more prejudiced cops out there, there's nothing stopping them from going after me."

"…Yeah."

"It sounds like you have more power than I realized to protect people from police brutality. And it sounds like the charm worked on murderers too."

"I've thought about this too. If we could mass-produce these charms, we could prevent needless violence. But that enchantment took a lot out of Morgan."

I force myself to take a deep breath. It's not Lucian's job to solve racism. Lashing out at her doesn't help anyone.

"So can you tell what happened to the charm after Thales blasted it with dark magic? There have been some… interesting side effects."

"Why don't you go ahead and tell me?" Lucina says. "I know the kinds of things this magic can do."

No point in stalling any longer, I suppose. I talk about what happened when I was initially transported to Fódlan, giving context I didn't have at the time such as how the people I encountered existed on Earth as well. Lucina doesn't react while I tell the story, and I'm not sure if that's a good sign or a bad one.

"Okay, this makes everything so much simpler to explain," Lucina says. "Unfortunately, though, that's not an area I recognize. Must be a different dimension than the ones I know."

After the admission that she knows about magic, learning that she can hop through dimensions isn't exactly world-shattering.

"My best guess is that Thales' magic connected the pendant to the dimension he's from," Lucina says. "And that the magical energy in the pendant is now redirected into planar transport rather than protection. Purely accidental side effect."

"If that's a side effect, then maybe you people need to watch your magic," I say.

"I'll pass that along to Thales if I ever see him." She pauses. "So what happened with the pendant after that? Do you know if it takes you to Fódlan every time you hold it?"

I nod. "I've been going back and forth every so often."

"No offense, but… why?"

"Because all my friends are there Fódlan. And if they die there, they die here as well."

"Interesting." Lucina furrows her brow. "I can tell you that the reverse way doesn't work. So don't go shooting up people here to remove them from Fódlan."

"Duly noted."

"Man, you must be busy with both private Catholic school and shielding your friends in another dimension. What's your long-term plan with that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to protect the Fódlan version of your friends for the rest of your life? I'm not sure how sustainable that is."

I grunt because I know that Lucina's right. I can't be a citizen of two worlds forever.

"The Officer's Academy finishes at the end of the school year," I say. "After that, things will hopefully die down."

I launch into the rest of my story about what's happened in Fódlan since my first visit. By the end of it, Lucina is grimacing and making her worry-face.

"Are things going to be safer for them once they graduate and potentially fight out in the world without the protection of the Knights of Seiros or the church?" she says.

"Sounds like you know the answer to that question," I say.

"You know the world better than I do," Lucina says. "Maybe they all get cushy administrative jobs after they graduate."

"Some of them do. But others…" My mind goes to Ashe. "I think people are only in danger because of strange circumstances, like Flayn and Monica being kidnapped. Once that blows over and the church finds all the culprits, that world should be safe for my friends. Fódlan has been peaceful for the past few centuries, and I don't see any reason for that to change."

"Do you think Thales is one of the culprits?"

Given that he looks off in the same creepy way that Solon does…

"Probably," I say. "He and his accomplices can shapeshift into looking like regular people."

I recount everything that I know about Thales and Solon, as well as Byleth's crazy lizard-people conspiracy theory.

"Lizard people, dragon people…" Lucina puts a finger on her chin. "Sounds more like a Manakete than whatever Solon and Thales are."

"Manakete?"

"Oh, they aren't common knowledge in Fódlan? People with a human form and a dragon form they access with a special stone. One of them I know is centuries old but takes the appearance of a scantily clad teenage girl."

"Wow."

"Yeah, that was basically my response when I met her. Things could be different between Ylisse and Fódlan, but I'd guess your professor is looking for people that can turn into dragons instead of whatever pale mole-person creature you were describing for Thales and Solon."

Or they could be confused about the whole mess like I am. Lizard people and mole people in the same world? Why can't everyone be regular humans?

"So the world you travel to is called Ylisse?"

"The continent's called Ylisse. I'm not sure if the world has a name. It could even be the same planet as yours at a different time and place. And I do a bit more than travel there."

That's when it clicks in my mind. "You were born there, weren't you? That's what's up with the big sword you used, and… when you were in Japan for the past seven years, you weren't really in Japan."

"Hey, I did tour the country for a couple of weeks. But yeah, Falchion and I are from Ylisse. I initially only came here to try and research people that were causing trouble back in my world."

Like Thales, but less malevolent.

"Did you have another reason for staying?" I say.

"Of course." Lucina smiles at me. "You."

And that's all it takes for me to be that same ten-year-old kid who wanted to cling onto her and never let go.

"I wanted to stay for longer," she says, "But…"

"The police got on your trail?"

"There was that, and I needed to take care of matters in Ylisse." She inhales. "That sounds bad to say, I know, but lots of lives were on the line."

"I don't blame you. I'm thankful that you helped me as much as you did."

"If only everyone could be as sweet as you, Claude."

"Thanks." Silence hangs in the air. "You have to return to Ylisse soon?"

"For a shorter amount of time. Honestly, I'm not sure how much is left for me there."

"What does that mean?" I say.

"In my world, I made it my mission to go back in time to change the past. And I did it. Now baby me is in Ylisse's capital and will know a life full of butterflies and morning dew instead of the calamity I witnessed. So what does that leave me?"

"I don't know. But I'm always here if you need someone."

"Thank you, Claude. I think I need some time to find my place. So I shouldn't be in Ylisse for long. Except…"

"Except what?"

"In my time, I wasn't gone for seven years," she says. "It was more like a few months."

"Oh, so that's why you haven't aged."

"Right. I said my age was complicated. I think I'm about 20 or 21, but it's hard to remember when I keep hopping through worlds."

"So even a few days there could be months out here is what you're saying?"

"Right. I don't anticipate that it will take long for me to wrap up all my loose ends in Ylisse, but it might be some time before we see each other again. I know that it will be hard to say goodbye again…"

"I can take it."

Lucina studies my face. "Claude, are you sure?"

"I know that the story I told myself about you being at my side for the rest of my life is a lie. I'm sorry for telling you not to go when we said goodbye last time. I thought hiding behind you was the only chance I had at surviving in this cold world, but I've managed to make do on my own."

In response, Lucina pulls me into a hug. I'm so surprised that it takes me a second to return her embrace.

"I should be the one apologizing," she says. "I told myself that the charm was going to keep you safe, but I still knew I was abandoning you. I couldn't leave my dimension to fall under the darkness I had seen, I just _couldn't, _but I knew you didn't have anyone else. I'm sorry, Claude."

"It's okay, Lu," I say. "It's okay."

Lucina continues to hold me, and my mind wanders. If the charm kept people who want to hurt me away, maybe that was why my mom sent me to boarding school over in Iowa. Which means that I only met Dimitri and Byleth because of Lucina. Of course, she unknowingly thrust me into more danger, but in Fódlan I have control over the destiny of myself and my friends. That's never a power I had here on Earth.

"I'll always see you as a younger sibling, Khalid," she says.

I freeze. To her, I've always been "Claude" for my own safety. This is the first time she's ever said my real name.

"I didn't think you even remembered," I say.

"I tend not to forget what I see and here. It's a curse as much as a blessing."

Lucina releases me from her hug, and I see the pain in her eyes as she stares out at the water.

"It sounds like you've been through a lot," I say. "And I'll do whatever I can to support you."

Lucina brushes away a stray hair. "How about we go on our walk for now? Sometimes I need silence to fill my mind louder than words."

Sounds good to me. I rise to my feet, and Lucina follows after me. It's only after we start walking down the trail that I realize how for the first time, I'm leading her rather than the other way around. Even six months ago, I don't think I could have stepped into this role when my mind wants to see Lucina a someone to rush in and save me.

But working with Byleth in Fódlan has forced me to step up and become confident. Now I have another reason to be grateful I met them.

#

Turns out that Lucina fighting in a war for years and me training at a military academy means that we're both in great walking shape from all the long days of drills and marches. We keep a brisk pace as we spend a few hours walking all the trails the park has to offer. Every so often one of us picks up the pace, issuing a silent challenge to the other. By the end we're almost at the pace of competitive speedwalking.

We talk about stupid topics, harmless topics. A trip to the water park during the summer all those years ago that I had forgotten about. Differences in wetland flora here compared to the Pacific Northwest. Favorite foods and Lucina bugging me about whether I'm finally mature enough to eat vegetables. To which the answer is yes. Getting all the vitamins and minerals I need from greens is vital to keeping myself alert and ready during training and classes.

I sound like such an adult, even in my own head.

During this time, there are two topics that neither of us bring up. The first is my parents. Lucina knows them better than anyone else in my life, which means she understand that it's best to treat them as forces of nature and weather the storm while trying to take shelter from them. There's nothing else to say.

The second point of discussion she stays silent about is the day we met. She danced around it during our serious talk on the bench so I expect it to come up, but the words never leave her mouth. I'm not sure if her sealed lips are a sign of trust in me to handle the trauma myself or fear of bringing up painful memories. Either way, I see no need to discuss it myself. If I can stay busy enough and work myself to exhaustion every night, maybe I'll never need to think about that day ever again.

In the end, it's time that gets us to leave the park rather than either of us tiring. Lucina takes me out for Korean BBQ, where we both stuff our faces.

"You can't get food like this in Ylisse." Lucina pats her stomach. "Man, I'm going to miss this place."

"America does have a few things going for it. Where else can you get this much variety in food?"

I think back to Byleth's talk to me about the lizard-people they're searching for. They believe that reptilian humanoids existed as creatures native to North America but were massacred by the Europeans that pillaged this land. A ridiculous theory, but it does remind me how this country tried to wipe out the cultures of hundreds of tribes in an area about the size of Europe. How much knowledge and history was lost that we can never recover?

"You look lost in thought," Lucina says.

"I suppose I am. It's funny, being in Fódlan and hearing about your Ylisse." I look around to make sure that nobody else is listening. "Where we're both trying to root out dark forces. I always thought that Earth was a world where we succeeded in driving out evil like the Nazis… but now I'm not sure it's that simple. This country looks an awful lot like one where the forces of darkness won out. Like how Fódlan and Ylisse will turn out of if we fail."

Lucina hesitates, and then nods. "Japan is no different. Their power and wealth come from pillaging East Asia and the Pacific Islands. We couldn't stop their atrocities, and now they use that power to captivate the world. I love living there, but…" She looks away. "This world does look like a graveyard."

I think back to when I went to the Red Canyon Zanado with Byleth to hunt down bandits. The architecture of the ruins came from a culture I didn't recognize from any of my studies. And on top of that, the canyon itself didn't look red at all. Is it possible that Fódlan contains races of people that were targets of genocide just as in our world?

"Neither of us have the power to stop what's happened on Earth," Lucina says, "But there's a chance we can do better with Fódlan and Ylisse. I believe that we can write a future for ourselves without using the blood of the vulnerable."

Right. And if I can protect Fódlan's future, it helps the people I care about back on Earth as well. It's not a perfect solution, but it's something. And after talking to someone like Lucina who understands, I'm ready to go back to my role as a citizen of two worlds who shields both.

To turn Fódlan into a world better than Earth… I wonder if that's possible.

#

After we finish eating, Lucina drives me back to school. It's already evening by the time we arrive, and having my stomach filled with delicious food puts me in a sleepy mood. Right as Lucina pulls up in the parking lot, she gets a call. The voice on the other end sounds young and perky, but I can't pick up much else. Lucina's face turns serious, and she does most of the listening while the person on the other end continues to chat.

"Does it have to be tomorrow?" she says. "This is the first time in years I've had time to myself."

More talking. Lucina lets out a sigh.

"All right, all right. I get it. See you tomorrow."

She hangs up and shoves her phone back into her pocket.

"You need to go soon?" I say.

"Apparently I'm needed back in 'Japan.' I hate to say goodbye again, but…"

"I get it. Besides, I need to get back to the grind as well. Gotta keep up with two schools at once."

Lucina reaches over and hugs me. "It's still so weird to see you all grown up like this. I'll be back for you again soon. I promise."

"Yeah, yeah." I hug her back. "Try not to take seven years this time, all right?"

"Should be easier when I don't have a war going on in my backyard." A pause. "I'm proud of you for making it this far and doing so much to help your friends."

I don't know how to respond to that. I'm not used to anyone saying that they're proud of me. So I sit there awkwardly hugging her in the cramped car space until she lets go.

"Best of luck in Ylisse," I say. "You better have some exciting stories to tell when I see you again."

"Same with you and Fódlan. Now go out there and kick some ass."

I feel myself grinning. Why couldn't my whole childhood have been like this?

The extra spring in my step lasts even after I exit the car and hear Lucina drive away. As I enter the hallways of Iowa's Garreg Mach High School, I'm ready to fly through my homework and take a jaunt over to Fódlan.

And then I see the person in the police uniform in the hallway.

I tense up by reflex. It's a vicious circle where I'm assumed to be up to no good which makes me more nervous when I see a cop, which makes me look guilty. A high school for rich kids is a low-risk setting to get shot by the police, but weirder things have happened.

It's only after that thought process that I see who's wearing the uniform. I know I've met her somewhere before, but I can't remember where. Her hair is deep red in a way that makes most redheads' hair look pale. Now where I have I seen that before…?

"Hello," she says. "I'm here on an investigation."

When she speaks, I remember who this person is. I haven't met her on Earth, but this is definitely Monica from Fódlan. She was one of the girls Byleth's class and I rescued from the Flame Emperor and the Death Knight.

"This is going to sound crazy," she says, "But have you heard anything about people who can turn into lizards or dragons? It's related to a myths about a local crime organization."

For her and Byleth to both bring it up is too strange to be due to chance. Both of them must know something I don't.

"I haven't heard anyone talk about that," I lie. "Good day, officer."

I ignore her frown as I walk past her and turn the corner. My heart doesn't stop beating until I make it to my room. Ignatz greets me as usual, but I don't have the heart to engage him in conversation.

What's up with Monica, and why is she a cop in this world and not a student like the others?

* * *

**Hi everyone! :) I'm headed off to grad school in a couple of weeks so we'll see how my update schedule is, but for now I have a chapter... that's actually two chapters! Yeah, this chapter got a bit too long and also the real-world part focuses on entirely different ideas than the Fodlan part.**

**Also I haven't played Awakening in like 5 years so I really struggled to remember what happened enough to write Lucina. **

**Hope y'all have a great day! **


	12. Chapter 11: The Cause of Sorrow

After spending the day with Lucina, I visit Fódlan and Hilda approaches me with a scowl on her face.

"Where have you _been,_ Claude? Manuela's about to choose someone for the White Heron Cup, and she almost picked me. You slacking off and becoming invisible made it more difficult for me to hide. I blame you for all of this."

"Hold on a second. What's this White Heron Cup?"

"Claude, you're so uncultured. It's a dancing competition where each professor has to train one student from their house. The student who wins gets access to secret techniques to carry their dances onto the battlefield."

"Sounds… highly impractical," I say.

"Ugh, you're hopeless. But the point is that Manuela has been eyeing _me _of all people like I know how to dance."

"Do you?"

Hilda coughs into a fist. "That's none of your business."

"You do. Why not go along for the ride, then? It can't be worse than battle training."

"But she's going to make me do _both_." Hilda looks at me with puppy dog eyes. "Claude, please don't let this happen to me."

"I'm sure you'll do fine, Hilda."

"Wait." Hilda clears her throat. "You owe me one, remember? For making me work and helping you nearly take down Edelgard. We got second place in the Battle of Eagle and Lion due to my skills."

"That's not how I remember it going."

"Shush. All I need you to do is pretend that I'm _terrible _at dancing. Absolutely hopeless. Then your debt to me is repaid."

I run a hand through my hair. "If it means that much to you then I can try."

Her demeanor changes in an instant, putting on a practiced smile. "What a sweet boy, helping out a young lady in need. I'll be expecting quite the act, Claude."

Hilda walks away, leaving me to roll my eyes at the back of her head. Still, at least this Hilda doesn't have it out for me like the Hilda I know from Earth. Not that it makes my instincts comfortable to be around someone who looks like my toxic ex, but you take what you can get.

So, who is Manuela going to choose for the White Heron Cup?

#

"Oh, Claude," Manulea says, approaching me in the Golden Deer class house. "I'd like you to be our representative for the White Heron Cup."

Wow. That was sudden.

"You know I don't exactly have years of dancing experience, right?" I say. "I bet Lorenz eats that kind of stuff up."

"He does, but you're more… charming than he is."

"Charming?"

"It's…" she gestures for more words to come while she pauses. "I can teach a charismatic person how to dance, but I can't force someone with dancing experience to grow more charisma."

"I'm pretty sure that's not how it works."

"Listen, who was the professional stage performer, you or me? I know how these things work. And I think you have the best shot at winning the White Heron Cup for the Golden Deer."

"Well, if I'm your top pick then I won't say no. But I urge you to reconsid-"

"Excellent. We'll go through a dancing training next Sunday. I'll see you there, Claude."

With that, she walks off and I'm left silent as the clacking of her heels grows more and more distant. Guess I'm in a dancing competition now? At a minimum it will be useful in teaching me how to deal with social embarrassment.

A couple hours later, Hilda comes up and thanks me for insisting that she was a bad dancer. The entire time she has a mischievous smile on her face that makes me think she played a role in orchestrating me getting picked, so I go ahead and take her thanks despite doing nothing.

I ask around and learn that Hanneman picked Sylvain to enter the competition due to him swearing that he'll perform to impress the ladies. Which makes things inconvenient for me. I can't afford to lose to a himbo in a dance competition.

But the real kicker comes when I learn that Byleth picked Dorothea to be the Black Eagles representative. Like Manuela, Dorothea also has stage performance experience in Fódlan's most renowned opera company, and I assume she's learned some dancing skills as part of that. Plus, if Manuela's idea of some weird intangible "charm" determining the winner of the competition is correct, my money is on Dorothea for having the highest charm out of anyone in this school.

So in addition to studying at two elite schools in different dimensions, I'm now tasked with out-dancing someone who's devoted their life to performance arts.

Goodbye, sleep. Hello, darkness my old friend.

#

Okay, it's not that bad. Dimitri helps me out with homework over on Earth, and I'm all caught up by the weekend. And Manuela only plans to train me for a day on Sunday. I do start a bit behind where she expects me to be as a noble raised to attend insufferable gatherings to further political schemes in between rounds of dancing, but the basic moves don't take long to go through. Manuela focuses on a specific set of movements I need to learn and drills them into me until it becomes second nature. I'm pretty sure dancing is more than the few stiff moves she teaches me, but she says that's all I'm being judged on. No wonder she cares so much about charm and grace when the moves are so simple.

Still, I can't imagine that I have any chance of beating a stage performer in a dancing contest, simple patterns or no. I could practice the simplest tennis shot all day and still be worse at it than someone who actually plays tennis.

Especially considering that Manuela's training only takes me a few hours, and I still have the rest of the day to chill in Fódlan. I expected dancing practice to be demanding and strenuous, but it's not bad at all compared to weapons training and marches.

So yeah, I can't imagine I'm being taught well if I think it's easy.

That being said, the few hours of dancing training have some… weird effects on me that I'm not sure what to make of. In the practice battles we engage the weekend after, I find myself better able to command the battalion of soldiers assigned to me than I had been previously. I'm not sure if it's being more stable due to experiencing a creative outlet or if Manuela's theory about dancing skills being tied to charm and charisma is accurate, but I'll take what I can get. If we ever encounter dangerous enemies I'll need to have my battalion gambits as an ace in the hole, so maybe it's good that I got picked for the White Heron Cup after all.

And then the day of competition arrives. The professors take us into one of the long halls where I often see students hanging out. It reminds me of how we had to do middle school dances in the gym during PE class. Where I was partnered up with Hilda and she spent the whole time laughing at me. Blegh.

The three judges for the competition are Alois, Manuela, and Shamir. Which are all weird to me. Manuela promises to not show any favoritism towards her class but it still seems like a conflict of interest. I don't think the goofy uncle stereotype Alois knows the first thing about dancing, while I imagine the silent sniper Shamir couldn't care less. Oh well. Guess this whole thing is a tacked-on feature of the school. It could even be an advertising point, like those colleges who advertise that they have Quidditch (which seems like a terrible team game since it mostly depends on one role, but that's a rant for another day. Yes, I feel the same way about baseball and pitchers).

I go up and do my dance alongside Dorothea and Sylvain. There's not a ton to say about me and Sylvain. I'm not supposed to be looking around, but when I catch glimpses of Dorothea's movements my breath catches in my throat. The way her limbs move reminds me of a stream bending around a corner, fluid and precise. When I look over at the judges, all of them are fixated on her. She has a stage smile on and leans into her motions in a way that adds life to the dance.

Sometimes humans can be amazing.

The judges take a few minutes to collect their thoughts and vote. Shamir votes for me due to being the most "original" when I followed Manuela's instructions without adding any of my own flair, but Alois and Manuela make the sane choice and vote for Dorothea. So that's it, then. She and the Black Eagles win the White Heron Cup, same as Byleth's class has won everything else.

I take a moment to congratulate her after people disperse, since there's surprisingly little fanfare. She smiles at me, and I can't look away from her deep green eyes.

"Thanks, Claude. I thought you did a good job as well. Your movements looked well-practiced."

"Thanks, but I can tell that you were far and away the best dancer of us three. I'm glad I beat Sylvain, at least."

"I know, right? I was _not _going to lose to him." A smirk comes to her face. "Also, I should probably say thanks for helping us out during all of our missions. Most of us see you as an honorary Black Eagles member at this point."

"That's good to hear. I don't care about the whole class rivalry thing as much as the school wants us to. I can see that Byleth's missions are where I can make the biggest impact, so I'm always happy to help."

"Oh, I've been wondering about that," Dorothea says. "Do you know why they're drawn to you?"

"I'm not sure I agree that they're 'drawn to me.' We happen to get along well, end of story."

"Okay, but think about it. They actively seek you out and ask you for help on missions. And last time they trusted you to handle an entire third of the area we were covering with them. It's clear that they think quite highly of you."

And they asked me to kill them if they ever turn into a Demonic Beast. That's not something you do to a casual coworker.

"I think they want someone around they can see as a peer," I say. "I'm not a perfect choice since I'm a student here, but at least I'm not _their _student."

"Interesting. So you don't think they… like you?"

I blink. Honestly, the thought never crossed my mind before.

"I sure hope not," I say. "That's not a good relationship to seek out."

"Because of the whole student and teacher thing? Yeah, I get that." Dorothea lets out a sigh. "Still, don't you think it would be nice to marry someone like them? I know you nobles aren't supposed to marry commoners who offer no political gain, but other nobles are just the worst. Can you say it's not tempting when you find someone who exists outside that system?"

I frown. "How old are they, anyway? Even after we graduate, the age difference could be a problem."

"Oh, so you are interested."

"I'm asking as a hypothetical, Dorothea. If you're interested in Byleth after we're no longer students, they're all yours."

"Eh, they have eyes for Edelgard more than me," she says. "But, I mean, I wouldn't say no."

"So do you know how old they are?"

"Nobody knows their age. Not even Hanneman, who tried to dig up information about their past, knows for sure."

Quite an enigma, aren't they. Still, I trust them when they told me that one day they'll tell me everything. I wonder what kind of reason they have for hiding their real age.

"Eh, I got a bit off topic there," Dorothea says. "Thanks for being a good sport, Claude. And I'll look forward to seeing you on future missions."

"Same here. And… you seem to come alive when you're on stage. If that's your passion, I hope you get to keep living it."

"I hope so too, but I have to be realistic. Nobody wants to see a woman past the age of 30 singing or acting. That's why I'm here, you know? Find a way to transition into something else."

If Fódlan Dorothea is anything like Earth Dorothea, then she must mean finding a wealthy spouse. And hey, I respect the hustle.

"I'd see you perform no matter what age you were," I say. "That dancing was beautiful."

A pause. "Are you… flirting with me?"

"Uh," I cough into my sleeve. "No. I don't think so, anyway. I think your dancing is that good."

A smirk comes to her face. "You're an odd one, Claude. Good luck with all of your fancy noble stuff going forward."

She leaves me wondering if I should take her last statement as an encouragement or an insult. But man, I do not have time for a relationship with someone I'm actually interested in, to say nothing about people like Dorothea who I'd prefer to be friends with.

Gotta keep trudging forward.

#

Right after the competition is a fancy ball that either nobody told me about or I wasn't listening. Because Garreg Mach runs of that sweet sweet church money, they deck out the ballroom with fancy drinks and lighting to the point that I barely recognize it as the same rinky-dink hallway where we held the dancing competition.

A lot of people are waiting, drinking, or watching from the sidelines, and I can make out Byleth with their dumb sleeves and impractical tights. I walk over to see them holding a glass and looking out at Dimitri and Edelgard each dancing with random students I don't recognize. Dimitri looks so consumed with dancing and his partner that he doesn't appear to be aware of anything else going on around him. With Edelgard, I find it funny how she's a full head shorter than the guy she's dancing with, since she has such a large presence whenever I see her.

"You want to go for a round?" Byleth says. "My dancing skills aren't anything special, but…"

"You coached Dorothea to a swift victory in the competition."

Byleth snorts and sets their glass down on the nearest table. "It was mostly me telling her to be more confident and trust in herself more. All the credit goes to her."

"I dunno. Your students seem to love you."

"So is that a yes or a no?"

Byleth looks tenser than usual, so maybe a dance is what they need to get all of their stress out.

"Go ahead. But you've seen me dance, so if I step on your foot by accident you can't say you didn't see it coming."

Byleth smiles and pulls me onto the dance floor. They're better than their words suggested, and they manage to lead me through the dancing motions naturally. It reminds me of dancing with Dorothea back on Earth during homecoming, though Byleth isn't quite that good.

"See, you're not that bad," Byleth says.

"What praise. I'll put that on my tombstone."

Byleth laughs, but it sounds forced. They look off into the distance while still managing to keep up with the dancing movements.

"Something on your mind, teach?" I say.

"Yes. And now is the perfect time to talk about it. Our sounds will never escape the crowd of people captivated by each other. But…"

"You asked me on a dance to talk about school business?"

"Otherwise it would be a little creepy, right?"

I expect them to continue, but quiet falls as we continue our dance.

"I hope you aren't getting the wrong idea, Claude," Byleth says. "This is going to make you cringe, but I see you as being like a little bro-sibling."

I study Byleth's expression. Did I ever tell Fódlan Byleth that I'm nonbinary?

"Turns out I'm a sucker for older sibling figures," I say. "I know you're not interested in me romantically."

"That's good." Byleth breaths out a sigh. "I have something to ask you, but I'm scared that I'm right."

"Shoot."

Byleth continues leading me through the dance in silence. After a minute I wonder if I should say something when they finally speak up.

"Have you ever heard of a place called Earth before?"

My head starts to spin. It takes me a few seconds to recover, and by then I've already given myself away.

"So you are the same person as Earth Claude," Byleth says.

"And you're the same as Earth Byleth," I say. "No wonder I kept combining the two of you in my mind."

I feel Byleth's arms relax. They keep on dancing, taking us closer to the musicians until instruments drown out the voices I hear from the sidelines. The implication is clear. Anything we say to each other will be lost in a sea of sound.

"So there is someone else like me," they say. "I always knew deep down that you were different."

"When did you suspect?"

"For a while you gave off the… vibes of an Earth person." They smirk. "But it only occurred to me that your Earth and Fódlan versions might be the same once I saw you being stalked."

Right. They were the one who led me to safety when Thales was tailing me.

"You were so calm," Byleth says. "Like someone who was used to looking death in the eye."

"Maybe that's when I noticed something off about you as well," I say. "Though at the time I assumed that you were collected because you were a teacher."

"Trust me, I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing most of the time, especially on Earth."

I collect my thoughts while letting Byleth lead me through more of the dance.

"Wait," I say. "So _that's _why you were gone so often."

"Same to you, buddy. How do you manage to keep up a full-time life in both worlds?"

"I could ask you the same question," I say.

Byleth chuckles. "I guess neither of us have the answer."

"Well, at least we can rely on each other now that we're in the same position."

"Can we, though?" Byleth looks up at the ceiling. "Am I trustworthy?"

"What do you mean?"

"I care deeply about you, Claude. And that's why I'm wondering if it's better for you to stay away from me."

"Listen, teach. I don't believe you're about to turn into a demonic beast-"

"It's not about that."

I pause. Byleth's secrets keep expanding into a wider and wider black hole.

"There's more going on behind the scenes of Garreg Mach than anyone knows," they say. "If I'm right about some of my hypotheses, the current events could be what tears Fódlan apart."

"Please tell me this isn't about your lizard-people conspiracy theories."

"Only tangentially related. For your safety, you should get out of Fódlan."

I catch a glimpse of their eyes as they perform a dance spin. They're dead serious about this.

"Can't," I say. "If my friends die here, they die on Earth as well."

"Ah, right. I wonder if it works the other way around as well."

"No such luck. I have it on good word from another dimension hopper."

"Well look at you doing some real investigating."

"Tell me, Byleth," I say. "Are you from here or Earth?"

"Despite my lack of knowledge about the Church of Seiros and major political figures, I am from Fódlan."

"So what are you doing over on Earth?"

"Gathering information. The way people behave over there gives clues as to how they'll act over here. That's how I figured out who the Flame Emperor is."

"Who are they?"

"I can't say. Honestly, your best beet is to leave this all behind."

"I'm not going to do that."

"I was afraid you were going to say that. Listen, Claude. I'll to my best to keep Fódlan together. But I believe things will go to shit in the next few months. Nobody will blame you if you focus on your native world."

Nobody will blame me, but that's only because they don't know. If I see my friends start to disappear one by one, I'll only have myself to blame.

"Thanks for caring about me, teach," I say. "But I'm not afraid to play this game. You can count on me."

"I appreciate the sentiment," Byleth says, "But you're in more danger than you realize right now. I think it's best if you don't assist on my missions, since I have a target on my back as well."

"The safest place is with you," I say. "Isn't that why Flayn joined your class?"

Another pause. At this point I can feel Byleth's dancing slow.

"I want you to take a break from the intense missions I'm assigned at least for this month. We can talk next time."

"It's your call, Teach. But I do think we work well together, and I'm here to back you up."

"You're too kind. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that you're safe."

At this point, Byleth leads us back towards the sidelines in dance. Once we get close enough they let go of my hands. When their shoulders slouch I study their face and see the circles under their eyes. As soon as we walk off the dance floor, Byleth is mobbed by students wanting to dance with them.

"Looks like I'm preoccupied at the moment," Byleth says. "I'll talk with you later, Claude."

Did they know that other students were going to cut us off? And what did they mean about them not being trustworthy? Of course it hurts that they're pushing me away right after saying I was like a younger sibling, but I need to keep a cool head about this. Especially if they're right and the fate of Fódlan itself is at stake.

I think I need to walk outside and take a breather.

#

While I'm walking around, I notice that I'm biting at the inside of my mouth. It's a nasty habit from when I was living with my parents and my anxiety was worse than it is now. After gnawing off mouth skin, the initial taste of blood is comforting, but it takes days to heal and each time I eat food with any salt I need to avoid it touching that part of my mouth if I don't want my mouth to light up in pain. It took me a while to identify the behavior as a mild form of self-harm. I thought I had stopped entirely, but I guess not.

Though maybe this is something to have anxiety about. Lucina is gone, and I'm not sure how Byleth and I are going to get along in the coming months. Maybe they're right and I should turn away from Fódlan and never look back. Heir to house Riegan or no, I'm still a kid balancing two lives. There's only so much I can do.

I hear talking nearby. Wait, where am I again?

In my mulling, it looks like I've wandered into some sort of tower. I furrow my brow and when I think back, I do remember entering some sort of building. I survey the area around and identify my location as the Goddess tower. Monastery rumors say that this is where people go to find true love. The people I hear must have arranged a meeting, since the night of the ball is good timing for something like that.

I head towards the exit and am on my way out, but the path takes me towards the people talking and I can make out their voices better. I hear Edelgard talking about how her parents met in this tower and fell in love at first sight, but how her father was already married so she became one of his many consorts.

And the person nodding along and making occasional comments is Byleth.

I wonder which one arranged the meeting here. I hope that Byleth is no more interested in Edelgard romantically than they are interested in me. Though I could see Edelgard potentially being attracted to Byleth, and in that case I can only hope Byleth has the good sense to put that off until Edelgard's older.

Still, it's not my place to pry. I should be on my way.

"So what about you?" Edelgard says. "I believe it's your turn to share a secret."

I stop dead in my tracks. All this time I've been looking for information on Byleth, and Edelgard might weasel something out of them. It's rude to listen in, but this information has the potential to inform whether I can trust them to handle threats affecting thousands.

"The biggest secret I have is one that you won't believe," Byleth says. "But I suppose I could say… in a manner of speaking. You might notice that there are days and times when I'm gone quite frequently."

"I have noticed that you're usually absent during early mornings," Edelgard says. "I assumed that's when you were doing your own training."

"That's not exactly what happens. During those times, I travel to places most people in Fódlan don't know about."

"Oh, you mean holy areas like the Red Canyon where we fought those thieves?"

"Like that, but not exactly. Like I said, it's difficult to describe."

"Well, I'd believe it if you say that you came from another world entirely. Ever since I met you, I got the feeling that you existed outside the rules that Fódlan sets. You're not a commoner, but you're definitely not a noble either. That's… what makes me feel like I can trust you."

Ah, so Byleth's dancing around how they visit Earth every so often. Nothing to learn here. I turn to leave.

"And that's my other secret," Byleth says. "I don't know the full details, but I know that you're planning something."

I stop mid-step. After a moment, I creep back towards the sound of the conversation.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Edelgard says.

She sounds shaken. Byleth's onto something.

"I agree with you," Byleth says. "The crests are to blame."

To blame for what? I still need more information.

"Then you… really do know what is coming?" Edelgard says.

"I agree that the church is corrupt. Complicit. But I'm not sure how much of it I can justify tearing down when it acts as a beacon of hope to so many people."

Now this is juicy. Was this what Hubert meant when he was talking about exposing certain high-ranking members of the church?

"The hope that they're being fed is a lie," Edelgard says. "Surely you must realize that. They tell us that our fates are determined from birth to keep us obedient. Those with crests rule; those without must bow. That system must end."

"I agree," Byleth says. "That's why no matter what happens, I promise I will not stand against you. But right now I can't promise I'll stand with you, either."

"I suppose that's all I can ask for right now. Thank you, my teacher."

The way they're talking makes it sound like Edelgard is about to blow something wide open. Is that what Byleth meant when they said that what's coming could tear Fódlan apart? In that case, it makes sense why they want me to leave. That way, they don't have to choose between me and Edelgard.

All I know at this point is that Edelgard doesn't like the church. I suspect most nobles do resent the church since any religious authority "infringes" on their political authority when the church and nobles disagree. The fact that the church has a large standing military must freak the nobles out as well. If I throw my lot in with the church too quickly, I might be the first to get snuffed out if the nobles turn against it. Especially since I'm sure that Hubert is keeping an eye on me and has an assortment of poisons at the ready.

Holy shit, maybe I _should_ back out of this whole mess.

Edelgard and Byleth keep talking, which gives me the opportunity to slip out of the Goddess Tower. At this point, it's important for me to play my cards close to my chest and gather information on Earth as much as possible.

For example, I already know that Monica being a cop on Earth means she's up to something. For her to disappear last year and reappear this year with a different personality seems strange after I know to suspect her. I consider telling Byleth, but they've kept me in the dark for so long that I think I'm entitled to my own secrets at this point.

#

The rest of the month goes as normal. Since Byleth doesn't ask for my help on the mission, I'm stuck with Manuela and the rest of the Golden Deer. It's a simple fight with bandits that feels like a breeze after what I've dealt with in Byleth's class. No wonder they won the Battle of Eagle and Lion considering that they're the only class who's been fighting real battles against dangerous enemies. The entire time I'm worried about my classmates over in the Black Eagle house, but Byleth will take care of them. I can trust them to do that much even if I don't know how they feel about me anymore.

As usual, the Blue Lions and our class are back before the Black Eagles. It's enough to make me wonder if Archbishop Rhea has something against Byleth or their class. When the Black Eagles return, I see them all at the gates and count them each off. Everyone survived, as per usual. But one thing that's odd is that none of them are talking. Even Caspar and Ferdiand, who are normally chatty Cathy 1 and 2, are dead silent.

That's when Byleth walks through the gate and I can see tear residue on their cheeks.

I freeze up. I've never seen signs of Byleth crying before. My mind hadn't registered that it was possible until this moment.

"Oh hey, Claude." They force a smile, still crying. "I'm glad to see that you're safe."

"What happened?" I say.

"Demonic beasts that ended up being transformed students. We took them out and when my father went to investigate further…"

Jeralt was with them? I scan the people coming through the gates, and I don't see him riding on any of the horses.

And then I see it. His body, slumped over on a horse, supported by riders to either side. The way he bounces in the saddle tells me he's either unconscious or…

I look into Byleth's eyes and see the truth written in their deep blue irises. Their father is dead.

"It was Monica," Byleth says. "That student we rescued. She was saved by a man with no pupils who looked like Solon."

Thales. It has to be. He finally made his appearance and I missed him.

"I…" I want to say something, but the words won't come out.

Because what can I say? I knew both about Thales's existence and oddities surrounding Monica, and I told Byleth about neither. And yeah, Byleth acting shifty is a decent reason to keep my own secrets, but my closed lips might have resulted in Jeralt's death.

"I'm sorry." It's all I can get out.

"It's okay."

From the tone of their voice, I can tell that it's not okay. And it's my fault.

* * *

**Here's part 2. Maybe I'm alone in this, but Jeralt's death didn't hit me that hard since we don't get a ton on him and his relationship to Byleth. Considering I focused on him even less than the game did, I wanted to focus on how his death stems from and affects the relationship between Claude and Byleth instead. Also I needed to include some foreshadowing about Monica last chapter, even if y'all already know what's going to happen.**

**That being said, we've already diverged from canon a bit with the Goddess Tower conversation and the story arc will continue to get more au as we head into the war phase.**

**Also I had to take a couple of subtle jokes at the way the dancing competition is handled. One day of training that increases charm by a substantial amount, and dancing victory only being tied to charm? It makes sense for game mechanics but Claude has some questions. Oh also in my playthroughs Shamir always seems to vote for someone outside my house regardless of how much charm they have.**

**And I don't think it's a huge twist at this point that Byleth is also hopping between worlds (multiple people have already guessed it in reviews), but now it's out in the open. A ball felt like a good time to reveal some juicy info so I waited until now.**

**Hope you have a great rest of your day! :D**


	13. Chapter 12: Dancing Beneath the Lights

**Content warning: **Mentions of sexual assault (not explicit/graphic)

April ticks over to May, and Dorothea reminds me while we're studying together that prom is this month.

"I already have plans to go with some rich dude from outside our floor," she says. "I hope he's not as insufferable as the others."

"Good luck finding someone who's both rich and not a pain to date."

"Thanks. I'm going to need it." She looks down at her math homework, running her hands through her locks of hair. "Dimitri seems really sweet."

"Yeah, he's a great friend," I say. "I'm still not sure why he's nice enough to show me how to work on the homework problems it took him so long to figure out. I wonder when his birthday is. I should get him a thank-you gift for carrying my ass through school."

"Byleth said that it was over Winter break. Must suck having your birthday right before Christmas. Though nobody cared about my birthday when I was an orphan anyway."

"My mom says that birthday celebrations are a social construct designed to promote consumerism," I say, "And my dad made a big deal about it and showered me with more gifts than I needed to seem more 'American.' So I'm not sure whether I wish I got more or less attention for my birthday."

"Your family sounds confusing. My birthday's in September. If you want to shower me with gifts instead, I won't say no."

"I'll see what I can find."

She laughs and puts a hand on my shoulder. "I'm only teasing, Claude. So speaking of extravagant American customs, have you decided who you're going to ask out yet?"

"Oh, I'm probably going to skip it. I'm busy with life stuff, and it's awkward to navigate the 'I'm attracted to you but can't experience romantic feelings' thing. Guys have a record of being distant and horny so it's easier for me to sit this one out instead of dealing with that shit."

"Ah, but you're not a boy."

I level my gaze at her. "This is a Catholic school, Dorothea. The girls here either won't take me seriously when I say I'm nonbinary or see me as some sort of freak."

"But you're not only attracted to girls," she says.

Oh, right. Dorothea's bi too, so she'd remember that about me.

"Like Catholic boys are going to admit they're attracted to men at a school dance. Is Garreg Mach even allowing that?"

"I asked Byleth if I could go out with a girl and they said they'd make it happen. I kind of wanted to do it to see her fight principal Rhea on it, but Byleth said that Rhea is actually fairly understanding of queer issues."

Then how did Rhea become a notable Catholic figure? Perhaps if I can figure that out, I'll unlock more secrets about the Church of Seiros back in Fódlan.

Or I could forget about Fódlan for now and focus on my life here on Earth. I'm sure Byleth would jump at the chance to set me up with someone if it meant I stopped poking around in their Fódlan business.

"I'll keep my options open," I say. "Someone who's gay or bi might be more understanding about me being aromantic, though I've also heard that a-spectrum people often get rejected by the LGBT community."

"A-spectrum?"

"Asexual, aromantic, whatever. Point is people might not understand me, which is fine. Prom is supposed to be a romantic experience and I don't want to take that away from anyone."

"Well, I'm going to see who I'll set you up with," Dorothea says, "And then I can chill with you if my date is too obnoxious or boring."

"You know I'm always up for the company. Come to the dark side with the other queers. We have cookies."

"Tempting, tempting…" she puts a finger on her chin. "So who _do _you like, anyway? I assume not me, since you haven't asked to fuck me and you don't stare at my tits or anything."

I glance around to make sure nobody else is listening. Can't be too safe in a Catholic school.

"You're an attractive person," I say, "But I prefer we stay friends."

"So now I'm the one getting friendzoned." She lets out a laugh. "Well, everyone here is hot, so you do have quite a host of pretty faces to choose from. So come on, Claude. Why not open up a bit to your ol' pal Dorothea?"

"Again, it's hard when I'm aromantic and approach dances or a relationship from a different angle."

"You're dodging the question. Tell me about _all _of your crushes, Claude. Your secrets are… well, not exactly safe with me, since I will try to set you up with them. But put your love life in my hands and you won't be disappointed."

"The fact that you're so insistent makes me trust you less," I say.

"Oh, don't be a spoilsport. I suppose I have to list off names. Who do you spend a lot of time with, other than me? Well, you and Iggy seem to get along, but I've never detected any sexual tension between the two of you."

"That would make things awkward to try and set things up with my randomly matched roommate," I say.

"I mean, you know it's a queer trope." She looks up at the ceiling with fake starry eyes. "Oh, they were _roommates_."

"That's for people who choose to be roommates."

"Teasing, teasing." She adjusts her emerald earring. "Besides, Iggy is going to the dance with Ingrid together. They have a whole thing, but they're acting like they're not together. Ah, white people are so awkward."

"Are you not white?"

"White as can be. We're the worst."

I raise an eyebrow, but Dorothea ignores the gesture and moves on.

"So it's not Iggy. You spend a lot of time with Byleth, but hopefully you don't have the hots for our dear teacher."

"Of course not. And I thought we were talking about prom candidates?"

"Sorry, sorry. I'm going through everyone… oh, you and Lysithea seem to be getting along well, lately. Leonie tells me that you're the only one she'll talk to these days."

Does Lysithea like me in that way? I'm going to assume not for the time being.

"She's too young," I say. "I know she doesn't want us to see her as a kid, but I can't go to a dance with someone almost three years younger than me."

"As I suspected. So that leaves only one candidate."

"You do know I don't have to spend time with someone to like them, right?"

"You have a big fat crush on Dimitri," Dorothea says.

My chest goes tight. There's no way in hell she knows. If I kept it secret from Dimitri himself then she must be guessing.

"Oh, so you _do _like him." Dorothea flashes a closed-lipped smile. "Interesting."

"I, ah…" I cough into a fist.

"Don't worry about it, Claude. I'll feel things out for you. If I can read the minds of directors and talent agents to avoid being crushed by the showbiz, Dimitri will pose no problem. He won't even have to know that you like him."

"I'm still not sure about this."

"I'll talk to him and see if he likes you. If he doesn't, we can forget we ever had this conversation. Well, at least until I find another person you like."

But what if he does like me? When I think about that possibility, my stomach rumbles with anxiety that takes me back to the moments before a bloody battle in Fódlan. Before now, my job was simple. Pass my classes in Garreg Mach so I don't get kicked out. Work to protect my friends in Fódlan so they stay safe here on Earth. I'm not sure I can afford to add love into the mix.

I might be able to hit a cloaked assassin with an arrow and crunch an AP test after studying for a week, but I'm still a teenager. Passionate attraction is a whirlpool that I don't have the experience to navigate.

What happens when I get sucked in?

#

I do some of my own chatting with Dimitri a couple days later, which I hope is before Dorothea got a chance to talk with him. I'm so nervous that I do my homework beforehand while I slack a bit on my Fódlan training, so the first part of our study session is me helping him with math problems and his English essay.

"Who are you and what have you done with Claude?" Dimitri says, smirking. "But seriously, I hope this means your life is settling down. It hurts to see you get Bs when I know you could ace every test if you weren't so busy with other parts of your life."

"Hey, I'm perfectly fine with Bs if it means I stay afloat."

"Seriously, Claude. I think you're smart enough to get into the Ivy Leagues. But most of them will never know it because of how much time you spend dealing with your own matters away from the spotlight."

I can't stop the snort from coming out. Me in the Ivies? That's a place where rich people and geniuses go.

"I don't do the extracurriculars they want to see, either," I say. "So it's a moot point."

"Because you don't have time for that, either." A pause. "I hope I didn't come off the wrong way. I really do appreciate your help."

And there it is. How could I not fall in love with someone like him?

"You're too sweet," I say. "And yeah, I can tell when it's all in good fun. Dating Hilda taught me what it was like when someone actually hates your guts."

He grimaces, and I can't tell if it's at my compliment or the general awkwardness of me discussing my past toxic relationship.

"Hey Claude. I was wondering…"

"Shoot."

"You've mentioned before that you're aromantic."

When was that? I can never keep track of who I'm out to and about what.

"Yep. What about it?"

"I…" Dimitri clears his throat. "Well, I don't want to be insensitive…"

"I said it's fine. Go ahead."

"All right. What's it like?"

"Hm?"

"It's a stupid question, I know." He looks down at the floor. "But…"

"Well, it feels normal to me because it's all I know," I say. "Being aromantic is difficult to describe, since it's about feelings we don't have a good reference frame for. Like, I can talk to ace people and they can convey to me that they're not attracted to anyone. I get that. But-"

"Ace?"

Right. I forget how much queer lingo sounds like gibberish to other people.

"Asexual. Describing what it's like to be aromantic is trickier since I still feel comfortable doing many things that are considered romantic, but I come at it from a different emotional angle. What feels like a dinner date to someone else is a chance to chat and catch up with friends over some good grub for me."

"So does that mean you're attracted to people, but don't want to date them?" Dimitri says.

"Not exactly. I still want to have a close emotional relationship with someone. It might even look like a typical romantic relationship on the outside. But it won't _feel _romantic for me."

Dimitri furrows his brow. "But what does being 'romantic' actually mean?"

"That's the million dollar question. I imagine it's easier for someone who does experience romance like you to answer. But it's okay if it doesn't make sense to you right away. It didn't to me, and I'm the one who's been living this life for the past seventeen years."

"Well… I don't know if that's true. Because the more you talk about it, the more I'm convinced I don't experience romantic feelings either."

I blink. This is my first time encountering another aro person. Is this feeling of belonging what it's like to exist every day as someone who isn't queer?

"I still can't say for sure," Dimitri says, "But looking back, I think I was a bit different from many of the people I knew. I wasn't interested in dating in late elementary and middle school when my friends were getting into it. I assumed it was me being awkward, but everyone else's romance lives seemed strange to me. But I did start becoming attracted to people… I think."

"You mean you're not sure?" I say.

Dimitri stays quiet for a full minute.

"This is going to sound like another stupid question," he says, "But… how do you know you're attracted to both men and women?"

Huh. Never got that one before. Though I do know gay and bi people whose parents insist that their sexuality is "just a phase," so clearly not everyone thinks we exist.

"Do you want me to go into the specifics, or…?"

Dimitri blushes. "So it was obvious to you?"

"Yes and no. At first, it took me a while to accept. But after I did, it was obvious in retrospect."

"What was the moment that made you realize?" Dimitri says. "And what was holding you back before then?"

"I wanted to be normal," I say. "I wasn't trying to be a freak that everyone avoided in the hallway. That's what held me back."

"And did that happen? Did you lose friends?"

"The thing is, I can't even remember. I know this sounds overdramatic, but the year I accepted who I am was the first one in a long time where I didn't go to bed wanting to die every night."

"It's that easy, huh?" Dimitri's voice is barely above a whisper.

"Depends on the person. For me, that was what did it. And I guess I never answered your question about how I realized. It wasn't from the culmination of some big event like what you'd find in a novel. I told myself one day 'I think I'm attracted to men,' and it felt right."

"All right, let me give this a try." Dimitri takes a deep breath. "Claude, will you go to prom with me?"

Wait.

…

…

…

What?

"Um, Claude?" Dimitri frowns. "You're looking pale. Did I mess something up?"

"That, uh, wasn't what I was expecting you to say." I take a second to breathe.

"Oh, I thought it was obvious that I liked you." He hangs his head low. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't do anything wrong. Gimme a sec."

"No, it looks like I misjudged the situation," Dimitri says. "I'm sorry for springing that on you. I'm happy if we stay fr-"

"Yes."

"Huh?"

"Yes I'll go to prom with you. My apologies for being surprised. I was coming to terms with how I like the luckiest person in the world right now."

When Dimitri smiles at me, I think back to all the battles I suffered through in Fódlan. My face in the mud, my legs bleeding in the rain, my fingers cold and numb. Now I can see why I was fighting.

Dimitri's smile is worth protecting.

#

I should have expected Dimitri to stress out over prom like this. He talks to me at least once a day about how he lacks any sort of dancing skills, and between homework questions he asks aloud what we're going to do if the school doesn't like us being together. When he stays quiet about it, I get the sense that it's only because he doesn't want to burden me with his thoughts.

I don't think he's told his friends yet that we're going to the dance together, and I don't blame him. But putting it off is going to make things more stressful in the end. Though I'm not sure how he sees our connection. Are we going to start dating after prom? I get the feeling that he's the kind of person to want a formal relationship with someone he cares enough to ask out to prom, but I'm not going to stress him out by prodding him with more questions. Especially if he's assuming we'll go in a certain direction and I make him second-guess himself by asking.

So instead I suggest that I go straight to principal Rhea and talk about our plans. I don't exactly trust Dorothea's comment that Rhea is supportive of queer people, but I've dealt with people nastier than she could be. Dimitri insists that he come along as well. I try to talk him out of it, but he doesn't budge.

So now I have Dimitri tagging along, which must be due to some honor code of his that I don't understand. I've dealt with people throwing slurs at my face, but if Dimitri gets shut down he might crawl back into his shell. At this point, I don't even care if Rhea is prejudiced. I only hope that she's considerate enough to let Dimitri have this.

The two of us funnel into her office about a week before prom. I didn't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't something so sleek. Rhea works at a mobile, easily adjustable standing desk set with a double monitor setup. On the windowsill she has 3D-printed dragon models that look more like gaming miniatures than anything I'd imagine seeing in a Catholic principal's office.

"Greetings, Claude and Dimitri. What brings you in here today?"

Her voice is soothing, but in a way that sounds conscious and practiced. I'm not sure whether to relax or tense up around this person.

"We have a question about prom," Dimitri says. "And if you allow, I'm going to be forward about it."

"Wait, I can ask," I say. "Principal Rhea, may we-"

"Please ask your question, Dimitri," Rhea says.

Dimitri averts his gaze. "Is it… okay if Claude and I go to prom together?"

"Ah." Rhea pauses. "I assume by your demeanor that you are not going as friends."

I'm not sure if there's a good word for what we're going as, actually. Neither of us experience romance so I'm not thinking of it as a romantic date, and we're not really partners yet.

"That is fine by me," Rhea says. "Love is love, after all. Jesus is smiling down on both of you."

It's strange to hear her talking about Jesus instead of "the goddess."

"I cannot guarantee that you will be safe from strange looks," Rhea says, "But that is the curse we bear."

"We?" Dimitri looks up at her. "You don't mean…"

"I don't exactly advertise that I'm attracted to women as well as men. But I'm not trying to hide it, either."

Huh. So that explains why Byleth was confident about Rhea supporting queer people. Good thing she isn't closeted and spiteful.

"And I'm glad that you are opening up your heart, Dimitri," Rhea says. "The Lord is watching over you and protecting you, always. I'm glad that He brought you and Claude together."

Dimitri looks away. "I know that Claude will not betray my trust."

Wait. Why are Rhea and Dimitri talking like they know each other well? Besides, I thought Catholics didn't like it when teenagers dated since it puts us at "risk" of premarital sex. This conversation is making me realize how little I understand about Rhea. And if I don't know her in this world, I won't be able to comprehend her motives in Fódlan, either.

Rhea smiles. "Good. Is there anything else I can assist you with?"

"No, I think we're good." Dimitri looks at me. "Right, Claude?"

"Uh, yeah. Thanks, Principal Rhea."

"You children have a good dance, all right?" she says. "And remember to keep it clean. Love is nurtured in the connection of souls, not the throes of passion."

And there's the religious ideology. I think back to all my mom's tirades about the Catholic church drawing its power from how it controls human sexuality and decide that maybe the Catholic way of thinking isn't so bad if it managed to piss of my mom that badly. I know this is petty, but I do want to see the look on her face when I say that I'm dating a Catholic boy and we're planning to have a formal wedding in a church.

Ah, but that's thinking too far into the future. Indulgences can wait for when I know my friends are safe.

Dimitri and I walk out of Rhea's office, and he breaths a sigh of relief after closing the door behind him.

"I was so worried that I thought I was about to vomit," he says.

"I'm proud of you for taking the initiative back there," I say. "But know that you can count on me as well. If you slip, I'm here to catch you."

Dimitri looks up at the ceiling and smiles. "It feels good to hear that."

"I hope your friends are supportive enough not to judge you for this."

"I… don't know how they'll take it. But I don't want to make a big show of it beforehand. Sylvain and Felix don't need to say that they're interested in girls to show up with dance partners, so I shouldn't have to tell them I'm interested in boys to do the same."

Man, was that his own conclusion or did my random tidbits of info about being queer make an impact on him? Because those words sound like they came from someone who's been out for a while.

The only matter left to discuss is how Rhea seems to know him better than most of the other students here at the school, but the smile on Dimitri's face dissuades me from asking. Best not to bring up a potentially dark past at the moment.

#

It's on the day of prom that I learn that Dimitri has his own fancy car. I see it as I walk out to meet him by the curbside of the school. He looks less stiff in his suit and tie than I am. And ugh, the worst part of dressing up are these sharp, uneven shoes. I swear never to wear high heels ever if I can't even deal with men's dress shoes.

"I figured you weren't the type for a big limo entrance," Dimitri says. "I can go and drive us."

"How long were you hiding this car from me?"

"Oh, you didn't know? I thought I told you a while back. If you ever get tired of the dining hall and want to grab groceries in town, let me know."

A smile comes to my face before I realize it. Part of me thinks he reminds me of Lucina, but the reason must be that unlike many people in my life, he genuinely seems to care for me. I remind myself to thank her for showing me what love looks like, between friends and otherwise.

Dimitri opens the door to the passenger seat for me, and I hop inside.

"What a gentleman," I say.

Dimitri blushes. "I, uh, don't know the proper protocol for something like this. I'm sorry if-"

"You're fine. Do what feels right, and ask if you aren't sure. And hey, you're the man here, so if you want to act chivalrous I won't say no."

Dimitri forces a smile and hops into the driver's seat. I'm not sure it's a good idea for him to be driving when he's this nervous, but I also don't want to be the one driving his swanky car and being responsible if something happens to it. My sense of danger is warped from spending so much time in battles that the risk of a car crash feels negligible. I can always see if he starts to struggle or panic and ask him to pull over if it's clear he's not in driving condition.

"Do you think my friends are going to stare?" Dimitri says.

"Let them. If the looks are too much, I'll draw them onto myself."

Dimitri nods, staring at the wheel. "I wish I could be more like you, Claude."

"I think you're perfectly wonderful as you are. How so?"

"You're never scared."

I almost laugh. I think back to my last battle with Byleth's class, my bloody fingers nocking an arrow with shaky hands as possessed villagers drag themselves towards me with empty eyes. Maybe courage is all a lie. Only a sociopath could live through a moment like that and stay calm.

And then there's that day ten years ago when-

No_. _Not now. Not _ever_.

"If I were truly fearless," I say, "You'd find me jumping off roofs into pools or whatever stupid shit kids our age are doing. It's not something to envy."

"Not unafraid then," he says, "But brave. How do I become like that?"

"It's not something I try to do. I focus on what I want to see in the world rather than forcing myself to be brave. If there's something in this world I care strongly enough about, I'll go through hell and back to protect it."

"I see. Then maybe I'm doomed from the start."

"Did I say something to make you feel that way?"

Dimitri starts the car and pulls out of the parking lot.

"Dimitri?"

"You didn't make a mistake, Claude. I suppose what I admire about you is not that you never back down, but that you pick the right fights. And I don't think I'm capable of picking a fight at all."

"That's okay," I say. "Seriously. You make people really happy."

"Who told you that?" his voice is soft.

"You make me happy, Dimitri. You're my best friend here, and that doesn't happen by chance. I…"

Is it weird to say that I love him on a prom date when we're not in a relationship? I stop myself at the last moment.

"Thanks, Claude. I'm not sure why it makes me feel better to hear your voice."

Seriously, why aren't people begging to date this guy? He's so sweet and cute that it's criminal that nobody's asked him out before. Not that I'm complaining.

The prom venue is being held in a bigger city a 30 minute drive away from Middle-of-fuck-nowhere, and after a few minutes Dimitri gets onto the highway. It's at this point I realize he isn't playing music in his car at all. Does he drive around all the time in silence? For some reason, it's endearing for me to imagine that he doesn't know how to use the Bluetooth feature in his car.

"In case you can't tell," Dimitri says, "I'm terrified. Is this what it's like for everyone going on a first date or a dance with someone they care about?"

"It was for me," I say. "And it's okay to be nervous. But no matter what happens tonight, I care about you and I'm proud of you. That's not going to change."

He smiles, which is cut off a moment later by the color draining from his face. I look forward and see a car crash on the lane in front of us. It must have been recent, since one of the totaled cars is still smoking.

I look back at Dimitri. His face is frozen, his arms are trembling, and his foot is stuck on the gas.

"Hit the brakes!"

His body stays stiff. Oh boy, guess it's good I honed my survival instincts in Fódlan.

I adopt the mental focus I use in battles as I lean over and wrangle the wheel. The most important task, paramount to even grabbing the wheel, is staying calm and collected. If I can't control myself, then I can't control anything in this metal death cage around me. I hear Dimitri scream and try to push me away, which I relegate to the back of my mind.

I'm a lot stronger than he is, so even with him panicking I'm able to take control of the wheel. I yank it clockwise, and we swerve away from the far-right lane we're in. We go off into the grass, the rough dirt making the car bounce. After a few more seconds, I fly back into my seat and realize that Dimitri slammed the brakes. The car stops, and I can see that he's panting and shaking.

"What's going on?" I say. "Are you having a panic attack?"

More heavy breathing. He manages a nod.

"What can I do right now to help you?" I say.

"I… I'll be fine."

"Are you saying that you want some space right now, or is there something else I can do?"

"Space… sounds good."

I nod and sit still, doing my best to appear calm and stalwart. Dimitri puts on the parking brake and keeps breathing until the sounds get quieter and quieter. After a few minutes, he sits up straight and takes his hands off the wheel.

"I'm sorry," he says.

"It's okay. I'm not mad at you. Do you need me to drive you back to school?"

Dimitri closes his eyes. "Why are you being so nice to me? I almost killed both of us."

"Panic attacks aren't your fault. I care about you and I want to make sure your already bad day doesn't get worse."

"It was the smoke," Dimitri says.

"The smoke triggered something?"

"It reminded me… of the Twin Towers going down."

During 9/11? I think back to my various conversations. Ingrid was close with someone who was killed during the 9/11 attacks, which is why she harbors a grudge against people from the Middle East. I know she's also childhood friends with Dimitri and that his parents died when he was young.

It can't be.

"You parents…" I say.

"They were in there. While it was burning. While it was…"

"I'm so sorry."

"I was grateful I had the church community to support me. Until…"

He tenses as if he's been stabbed, and his eyes go wide. I look around for signs of physical harm, but see nothing. Another panic attack about something different? I resist the urge to pull him into a hug. He said last time that he needs space, and me stepping across his boundaries will only make the panic attack worse.

And then I see a cop coming towards us. Fuck.

I roll down my window before he can go over and pester Dimitri. Let's hope this doesn't send me into a panic attack or else who knows what he'll do.

"My apologies, officer," I say. "My friend here is having a bad panic attack. I'll take over the driving after he feels better."

The cop frowns at me, but his expression softens when he looks over at Dimitri. I'm learning that having a meek white person with me does wonders for dealing with the police.

"Sorry to hear that. What are you kids doing out here all dressed up?"

"Going to prom," I say. "We're meeting up at a friend's house with our dates first."

I bite the inside of my lip, hoping that Dimitri doesn't give anything away. I know enough about the Stonewall Riots to recognize that outing ourselves as queer could lead to us spending prom night behind bars.

"Ah, didn't realize it was that time of year." The cop hesitates. "Why don't you call your parents to pick you up? I bet they'll be worried about you once they hear what happened."

"I'll go ahead and do that," I say.

Which, of course, is a bit of an impossibility. Dimitri's parents are both dead, and mine are thousands of miles away and don't give two shits about panic attacks. So I need a bit of a backup plan.

I roll down the window so the cop can't hear me and call Dorothea. A couple rings go by before she picks up. I hear background chatter and music before anything else.

"Hey, what's up?" she says. "You're lucky my phone's still on me, you know."

Ah, right. She's probably wearing a fancy dress that doesn't have a pocket. What _do _girls do with their wallet and phone during dances when they can't be carrying around a purse?

"Are you at the dance yet?"

"Yep. Scoping out the area. Already loud here."

"I can tell. Listen, I need you to find Byleth, give them my number, and tell them to call me. This is important, all right?"

"Uh, okay. I see them right over here."

She puts the call on hold, and I can make out her voice's and Byleth's, though I can't tell what they're saying.

"All right, they're going to call you in a sec. This had better be important, because my partner looks confused and concerned."

"Thanks a ton, Dorothea. I'll pay you back somehow."

I hang up and scan my surroundings. The cop is walking back to the scene of the crash, which means we're not in any immediate danger. The best I can do is hope we can pull this off. I'm sure Byleth understands what the police can be like.

A call on my phone. I take a deep breath and pick it up.

"Hey, Claude. Hope this isn't about you-know-where."

"Not this time, actually. Dimitri had a panic attack while he was driving us to prom. The cops want our parents to come and pick us up, but…"

"I'll head over and bring Hanneman," Byleth says. "He can explain that we're teachers at the elite Catholic boarding school and that your parents live across the country. They won't question an old white guy who looks all official."

"Thanks a ton. I'll see you soon."

I hang up on Byleth and let out a sigh.

"Um." Dimitri clears his throat. "Couldn't we tell the officer the truth?"

"If we tell him the full truth, then you become a dirty orphan and I'm guessing he already thinks I'm a Muslim. Those aren't the type of people who can hold cops accountable. Right now we look like we belong to respectable middle-class families, and that charade is what's keeping us safe."

"You… think the cop will hurt us?"

"The dude we talked to seemed chill enough, but you never know. Plus, his partner could be a total nutcase. No point in risking it."

"All right. If you think that's best."

Dimitri hangs his head low. Should I remind him that what happened wasn't his fault again, or will talking about the situation only make him feel worse?

"Claude." I hear his voice quiver. "Promise me you won't… take things too far if I don't want to go that way."

"Of course. If you don't want a full relationship that's fine."

"Not that. I know we're at the age where our bodies start to… demand certain pleasures of us. But please. If I don't want to do something, then…"

"Of course I'm not going to sexually assault you," I say. "Where is this coming from, Dimitri? Did I do something to make you uncomfortable?"

"No, you've been nothing but kind to me." When he looks up at me, I see tears forming in his eyes. "But…"

Oh my god. What happened to this poor boy?

"If it's painful, you don't have to tell me," I say. "But if you want to talk, I'm here to listen."

"You deserve to know. It was… one of the priests. I relied a lot on the church community to help get me through the difficult times after my parents passed on. One of the priests was extra supportive. He took me into private to talk about my family's souls resting in heaven. But then one day when we were alone he…"

My head starts to spin. Of course it comes back to the Catholic church. I knew this was happening. We all knew that this was happening.

I just didn't know it was happening to someone so close to me.

"I'm happy that you trust me enough to tell me this," I say. "And I'm here for you, always."

"Does this… change anything?" he says.

"I see you as the friend who welcomed me when nobody else did and made homework something I looked forward to instead of something I dreaded. It's okay if your experiences weigh on you. But that doesn't mean I'm going to let your scars distract me from the beautiful person you are."

Dimitri stays still, and for a second I think I've said the wrong thing.

Then he leans over and hugs me.

My first reflex is to look past his shoulder to see if either of the cops are watching us. It _should _be normal for two male-presenting people to hug, but I can't know for sure how they'll take it. When I see that their attentions are focused elsewhere, I let him fall into my arms. Hugging across ends of a car is awkward, but I do my best to hold him steady. His whole body is shaking. So fragile. If I let go, I'm afraid he'll shatter like glass.

Then it comes. The sound of his breathing and the feel of his chest rising and falling. I realize our breathing is in sync, and I'm not sure if I copied his rhythm or he copied mine. Eventually the shaking stops, and I become aware of the silence. Like we're in the eye of the storm.

Dimitri releases me. I can see more tear stains on his cheeks. But this time instead of shrinking back, he's sitting up straight.

He's stronger than he realizes.

"When Byleth or whoever you told them to get comes over, I want to go to prom," Dimitri says. "I don't want my night to end here. I'm done running away."

And to think he asked me how to be strong.

"And I'll be by your side," I say. "Let's rock this dance together."

#

Byleth is right about Hanneman being able to talk to the cops. They seem quite sympathetic about our plight when they realize that we belong to a rich private school. Hanneman takes Dimitri's car, and Byleth tells us to hop into the car that they brought down. Dimitri agrees that it's best for him to switch cars in case the scenery change helps him stay calm, and I go with him. I tell Byleth about our plans to attend prom and it doesn't take long for them to agree. I can see that they're worried about Dimitri, but it's clear that he needs this. We file into the back seats of the car Byleth brought, and they take off driving down the highway.

"I'm glad you called," Byleth says. "We're here for you to lean on whenever something happens."

Considering that Byleth was born in Fódlan, their driving skills are solid. Less jerking and swerving than Lucina. I'll have to remember to hold that over Lucina's head when I see her again.

"Thanks for your assistance, Mx. Eisner," Dimitri says. "I know this isn't what you get paid for. If there's some way for us to repay you-"

"Don't worry about it. This is your night, remember? Try to forget about this whole mess and have fun."

Byleth drives fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit on the highway and ten miles over on other roads, so we get to the location quickly. Guess habits of sprinting all around the monastery and translate over to driving. At least they don't mimic their habit of nearly crashing into everyone.

We arrive at the parking lot, and Byleth makes sure we're prepared and ready to go. They give Dimitri their number in case anything comes up in the future and he wants a teacher to talk with. He fidgets and leans towards the car door, and Byleth doesn't keep him too long. Dimitri's out at the first possible moment, and as I unbuckle Byleth turns around to face me.

"See, Claude? You're needed over here. Please, don't take the task of saving my world upon yourself."

Dimitri's already closed the door behind him, leaving me alone with Byleth. My fingers twitch, and by instinct I think about where I left my gun in my dorm room.

"None of this matters if my friends get caught up in the war over there and die here," I say.

"You don't even know that dying in Fódlan always means dying over here, do you?"

"Happened to Kostas and Lonato."

"What about Sylvain's brother Miklan?"

I didn't ask. But while I didn't notice anything off about Sylvain, I didn't interact with him much and he seems like the type to hide his feelings under a cocky smile.

"I can't risk it, Byleth."

"In that case, you should join us."

"Hm?"

"The Church of Seiros is as corrupt as the Catholic church. Don't you wish they had less power over Fódlan affairs?"

I do remember the buzz about the people infiltrating the holy tomb being executed by Rhea's direct orders. The version of Rhea I met on Earth was kind enough, but I've never held a full conversation with Fódlan Rhea. Perhaps the world is better without her looking down on it.

"I won't object to political schemes that defund or weaken the church," I say.

"That's a start. Have fun at your dance, Claude. And think for a bit about what you have the power to change here on Earth."

Byleth hops out of the car, and I follow to see Dimitri cocking his head at us. He doesn't ask what the three of us talked about behind closed doors, and the three of us make our way to the venue in silence. The evening air is chilly for someone who's used to temperate Seattle weather, but Byleth doesn't shiver or rub their arms even though they're only wearing a thin button-down shirt and slacks.

The sound of the music gets louder as we draw near. The volume is higher than it needs to be, but I doubt that most high school kids are going to complain about loud music. Dimitri pauses at the front door, and I bring my hand close to his. When he grabs mine, I give his hand a soft squeeze. He can do this.

We open the doors, and blinding light floods out. Dimitri and I step inside together.

Sometimes, I catch myself assuming that I'm some main character in a teen drama. With us arriving late and being an unexpected couple, it's a perfect opportunity for people to stop and gawk at us. But they don't. In fact, nobody seems to notice us at all.

"I… don't really know how to dance," Dimitri says. "But I'll try my best."

"Do you think any of these people _do _know how to dance?" I have to shout to make myself heard. "Besides, this music is too fast-paced for real dancing. Just have fun flailing around like everyone else."

I take Dimitri into the group of people dancing. Honestly, it's easy to fall into the rhythm when everyone around me is moving to the same beat. It doesn't matter if I look stupid because we're all in this together and honestly they all look like degenerates anyways.

Dimitri is stiff and nervous at first but he begins to loosen up after a few minutes. Eventually, he gets as into it as the rest of us. He's right about his movements being a little clumsy, but I'm proud of him for letting go of his fears and having fun for the night.

After an hour or so, it reaches the point where I tune out everything going on around me. Just me and Dimitri, surrounded by a storm I don't care to comprehend. When I'm focused on him, I realize how much of emotion is in the eyes. His pale blue irises seem to sparkle in the colored lights bathing us. For a moment, I wonder if I'm in a dream.

Is this what love feels like?

Before I know it, the dance is over and we're walking back towards Dimitri's car. He agrees to let me drive us back to the school.

"I know I'm all sweaty," he says. "I bet your palms are all-"

"I didn't even notice," I say. "I was too distracted by you."

"I… this is the first time I think I've seen you drop your guard, Claude."

"What do you mean?"

"You give off this aura of being unfazeable. I was worried that meant I wasn't going to be enough to get past your mask. Even when you comfort me, you were always in control."

"And now I'm not. Huh."

It's true. For the first time, I'm not pondering and double-checking everything I do. Is this what being high is like?

"It's because you're so wonderful," I say. "I could kiss you right now."

Dimitri halts in the middle of the parking lot. Did I actually say that?

"Are you… serious?" he says.

"Guess so."

"Then let's… go ahead and try it."

Dimitri leans in, and I kiss him on the lips. It's not one of those quick romantic kisses you see from experienced couples. Instead, it's one of those long, passionate kisses that gets people scoffing and muttering about PDA.

And, well… it's kinda awkward. Neither of us are good at this. Still, I can't help but be disappointed when it's over.

"Looks like we have room to improve," I say. "But I'll hold this moment close to my heart, always."

"I will as well," Dimitri says. "All this time I thought that young love was a sin. Nobody told me it felt this… pure."

I realize I'm grinning from ear to ear. If Byleth thinks that this will make me stay tethered to Earth, they're mistaken. Moments like cement my drive to make sure that Dimitri is safe.

No matter what it takes.

* * *

**Hi, everyone! :) We have a fully realworld chapter this time. We're going to be kinda glossing over 3H's canon mission since Claude and Byleth are growing more distant, and also because it's the one where Byleth gets sucked into another dimension and breaks out by fusing with Sothis and that's not as exciting from Claude's PoV.**

**Also Dorothea is secretly my favorite char and I can't stop writing about her in this fic. Send help plz. **


	14. Chapter 13: Throne of Knowledge

**_Content Warning: _**_More discussions of sexual assault, though even less visual/graphic than last time_

At the end of April, my mission is to go deal with some demonic beasts popping up in Alliance territory. The Alliance nobles expect the church military to take care of many threats for them, as many of them come from merchant houses rather than being warlords. It's annoying to be doing a rich person's work for free, especially since the church is only interested in securing continued donations from happy nobles. And apparently they're charging students a fortune to go here. I guess you can make a ton of money when you have a monopoly on education. Just look at how much college executives and administrators in the US are cackling as their wages go up with back-breaking tuition increases.

It's an easy job, and as usual we and the Blue Lions return before Byleth's class does. Things always seem to fall somewhere between crazy and catastrophic wherever Byleth is sent, and it's a miracle that all their students are still alive. This time, I don't bother waiting at the gate for them. If they want me out of their life, I'm not going to try and worm my way back in.

Curiosity does get the better of me when I hear more hubbub than usual upon Byleth's return. I find their students first, many of whom look awestruck. Even edgy schemer boi Hubert looks rattled at something, and he was one of the only students who stayed calm when Solon sent his army of mind-controlled, raging villagers at us.

That's when I see Byleth. They got a hair job when I was away, changing from dark blue to light green, and the color of their irises changed to match. Normally when hair is dyed I can tell, and this new green hair looks natural as can be. Plus I doubt colored contact lenses are a thing in Fódlan.

Their new hair and eye color makes them look more like Flayn, Seteth, and Rhea. Huh.

"Hey Hubert." I push through the crowd to reach him. "What's up with teach?"

"Our dear professor was whisked away to another dimension by Solon," Hubert says. "I was ready to give the retreat order right then, but Lady Edelgard told us to wait. And sure enough, the Professor returned through a portal cut open by the Sword of the Creator with new abilities and appearance."

Okay, so Byleth went through an anime transformation and became Super Saiyan? But their visual changes look like they've stuck.

"I didn't know there were other dimensions recorded," I say, deliberating over each word.

"Ah, rumors and legends are always out there. Perhaps it was not another dimension but rather… a different point in space accessed by long-distance travel magic. Regardless, it looks like the professor is truly an extraordinary person. Now the game is getting interesting."

I don't like the smirk that appears on his face. I know from overhearing Byleth that Edelgard has some sort of plan in mind, and it sounds like Hubert might be the mastermind.

"Claude." The crowd parts as Byleth approaches me. "Do you have a moment?"

"Uh, sure." Am I about to get shanked in a back alley?

Byleth leads me over to their personal room. It's a bit strange going into a professor's room, but there's not much to see other than their bed, calendar, and bulletin board. Guess the mercenary life didn't let them hoard belongings. Byleth closes the door behind them.

"What's happening to me, Claude?"

"Do you think I have the answers?"

"I…" they take a deep breath. "This is what it's like to have power. To know that when the world goes to pieces, it will be your fault."

"How about you slow down and start from the beginning?" I say.

Byleth meets my gaze. "I think I have the powers of the Goddess."

"That's… not the beginning."

But honestly? Given how much batshit crazy stuff they've gotten dragged into, I'm not convinced they're wrong or lying.

"You know the power that allows me to turn back time?" Byleth says.

"You used it to cheat and win at the Battle of Eagle and Lion."

"Oh, you caught it that time too? My apologies. Well, that decision was not actually mine. I believe the goddess was in my mind, watching over me and guiding me. She's the one who activates the Divine Pulse, though I made requests."

Divine Pulse, huh? Fitting name for the power of a Goddess. And the stasis of frozen time does behave like a pulse in how it spreads out to engulf the world.

"Wait," I say. "You 'were' allowed to make requests?"

"I don't exactly have that option anymore," Byleth says. "Because the Goddess' voice is no longer in my mind. When I approached her at the Throne of Knowledge in my own mind, she fused with me."

So Byleth has, or rather had, somewhere they could go and see the Goddess in their own mind. Kinda like a cyberspace thing, I guess?

"So what about her powers?" I say. "You know, the Divine Pulse and all that."

"Now I have control over it," Byleth says. "I can reverse every event that I want to."

"If that's true, then there's no force in this world that can stop you." But that can't be right. Byleth views themselves as mortal, fallible. "Unless there's some sort of limit or weakness."

Byleth hesitates. "Even a Goddess' power is not infinite. I can only use Divine Pulse so often before I run out of energy."

But still. To defeat Byleth, someone must best them several times in different ways to account for them turning back the clock and being prepared for the same strategies. For someone so tactically inclined as Byleth, is it even possible to corner them like that?

I'm starting to see how they manage to win so many flawless battles.

"Why are you telling me this?" I say.

"You'll believe me." A pause. "And also…"

"You still want me to stay out of your way."

"I want you to be safe in your own world, Claude. If we end up on opposite sides of a battlefield, your chances won't look good."

"And how likely is that?" I say.

"More likely than I want. This world has seams that are about to burst. And the dividing lines might not allow for us to stay side by side. You know how politics are."

I think back to what I know about Edelgard's plan and oddities about Byleth. Everything points back to the Church of Seiros. The lizard-people that Byleth researched, the conversation Hubert had about corruption in the ranks of church members, and even Edelgard's mention of crests all ties back to the church. If Byleth and Edelgard hate the crest system that is perpetrated by Rhea and the church viewing crests as divine gifts to nobility, then the church stands in the way of their goals.

I think I'm starting to put the pieces together. Byleth's lizard-person conspiracy was a way of teasing out more information about the version of Seiros from our world. Maybe Seiros was a Manakete like Lucina described, or maybe she isn't. At the end of the day, information about the church is power.

"Moments like these make me worried that I'm an open book to you," Byleth says. "But as smart as you are, it appears that you lack the wisdom of knowing when to back down."

"Who says I'm smart? Listen, teach. I'll fight for what's right. Plan accordingly. That's all I'll say."

"I keep forgetting how hard it is to pry people away from what they've set their eyes on." They let out a sigh. "Very well. Do what you will, Claude. But when the time comes, I hope you make the right choice."

Instead of responding, I move towards the exit. Byleth nods, and I leave the room with them looking contemplative.

After I close the door, a shiver runs down my spine and I rub my arms. If I ever need to face them in a battle, I'm dead meat. But if I let them control my life, then I've already lost everything.

#

In order to assess the situation better without provoking suspicion, I take a page out of Byleth's book and decide to investigate what's happening on Earth. It's well past time for me to learn about Rhea and Edelgard.

I end up messaging Earth Edelgard first. She's outspoken enough about her anti-religious attitudes that I figure it won't take much prodding for her to open up. It only takes a conversation asking me about Rhea's views on queer people being a Catholic (which I already know the answer to) for her to suggest that we meet in person and talk about Rhea's sketchy past. She says it's unrelated to LGBT issues, which is perfect since I don't want to talk about that stuff with Edelgard anyway.

We arrange a time and I go over to her dorm room. The decorations are sparse for what I'd expect from a rich person, and instead Edelgard has several pictures on the walls of her and what look like her siblings as young children. Even in the most recent one she can't be older than five or six, so I wonder if she's grown distant with many of them. She invites me in and offers a chair for me to sit in. I pause when I see that there's a circle of three chairs like she's expecting someone else.

"My apologies for my tardiness, Edelgard," comes a voice from behind me.

Hubert steps in front of me and takes a seat in one of the chairs, resting his chin on the knuckles of one of his Mikey Mouse gloves. I sit down in the second, and Edelgard takes the third.

"Couldn't deal with me alone?" I say.

"I wanted to speak in private," Edelgard says. "But trying to get rid of Hubert was going to be more trouble than it was worth."

"You wound me." Hubert's smile doesn't look especially wounded. "I am at your service, Edelgard."

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter if we have a tag team going on, so long as you're not cops," I say. "I believe you wanted to tell me gossip about Principal Rhea?"

"It is not _gossip_," Hubert says. "Our investigation is based on detailed research and analysis."

"Yeah, yeah. I know you googled some stuff. Get on with it."

"You are aware of the major talking points from those who dislike Catholics, yes?" Edelgard says. "Such as the poor track record that priests have with the molestation of children."

The even tone of her voice makes it take a second for me to register what she's saying. She doesn't know about Dimitri, right?

"And you're saying that this is related to Rhea?" I say.

"It's difficult for a woman to achieve any sort of relevance in the Catholic community," Edelgard says, "Since they can't be priests. It made me wonder how Rhea got so powerful."

I'm not sure I agree with women being powerless in the Catholic community. People ask me all the time about how oppressed women are in the Islamic middle east where there are defined gender roles, but I know that women in those nations can be quite influential within their own spheres in past and present.

For example, there are some wild stories about historical women in Islamic empires. I remember reading about a Safavid Persian Princess in the 1500s named Pari Khan Khanum who ruled the empire in all but name by supporting her brother for the throne and then killing him to take control herself and putting a puppet ruler in charge of the empire. Though that puppet ruler's wife did get merchants to strangle her because they thought she was too powerful, so I guess you can't win them all.

Well, that's a long-winded way of saying that I don't think Rhea's influential status despite her lack of official power in the Catholic community is necessarily strange.

"And then," Edelgard says, "I noticed that Rhea had a lot of contact in the church with priests who were known to be abusers. Whenever a molester needed to be sequestered away from the public eye to avoid making a fuss, Rhea showed up."

I lean forward in my seat. "You're saying she was hiding abusers. Do you have more evidence?"

"I sent you some of the court records we were investigating," Hubert says. "As you probably know, most priests were never tried for their crimes. Another… interesting note about the church, if you will."

"Definitely shitty, but I hope you're not implying that universities or companies in the secular realm are paragons of virtue in that regard."

"I know that sexual assault has a long history of being ignored from all sides," Edelgard says, "And yes, corporate pigs and university presidents covering for student athletes are a part of the problem. But we have here someone who is responsible for having several molesters go unpunished. Don't you think something should be done about them?"

I take a deep breath. As much as I want to be contrarian with everyone I talk to, she's right. If Rhea is playing a role in covering up abuse, something needs to be done about her.

"What should I be looking for in these court cases?" I say.

"I'm so glad you asked," Hubert says. He doesn't sound appreciative. "The point I took from it was not the verdicts, which went the way about you'd expect, but rather the way the trails were carried out covertly. And look at a certain… official representative who was there stressing that the trials must be kept on the down-low."

"Rhea was there at official trials?" I say.

"They were held at small local courts," Edelgard says. "Sometimes the regulations slip through. Hubert and I are from the south and we see black men convicted of crimes they clearly didn't commit on a monthly basis. You learn quickly not to trust the legal system."

The worst part is, I can't say that she's wrong. Convicting black people while letting abusers get away with a slap on the wrist is what our court system wants to do.

"Do some digging for yourself," Hubert says. "Doubtless you will reach the same conclusions that we did."

"I have to admit that I'm curious, Claude," Edelgard says. "You see the flaws in the church but don't to tear it down because every other system is just as bad in your mind, right?"

_Is_ that what I think?

"More or less," I say.

"In that case, let me show you something personal to me that I hope will change your mind," Edelgard says.

Hubert shoots her a glance. "Are you sure this is wise?"

"If bad comes to worse, nobody else will believe him."

Oh, boy. Am I about to witness something else that shatters my entire worldview? Some day I've gotta get used to that.

Edelgard takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. Then Hubert's chair starts levitating off the floor. She strains and grits her teeth as she holds it there for a few seconds before descending the chair back to the ground.

I should act surprised that this exists. If they're convinced I haven't seen telekinesis before, they must not know about Lysithea's powers.

"All right," I say. "What's the trick?"

"I can only tell you the truth," Edelgard says. "Telekinesis is unfortunately real."

"Unfortunately?" I think I've heard this story before.

"I will admit that the people who gave me this curse were not Christians, and I have plans for them when the time is right. But the important part is what happened when my powers were revealed to the Catholic community in my town."

The perpetrators must be the same rational Satanist cult that Lysithea mentioned. Those who Slither in the Dark, I think it was? Which means that Edelgard and I both have a reason to punch Thales's stupid face.

"My powers were held up as a miracle by god," Edelgard says. "They used me to show off during church. They called me 'chosen.' It was an insular town surrounded by 'hostile' Protestants on all directions, so none of us ventured out much. I was cut off from the rest of the world, reminded every day of the scars I bear."

"So some people awakened telekinesis powers in you, but it had side effects?"

"The side effects are bearable." Edelgard looks at the floor. "The nightmares are not."

"Nightmares?"

"I can see them all. Father, my brothers, my sisters, they all…" her voice catches in her throat.

"Are you sure it is wise to continue, Edelgard?" Hubert says. "Claude does not need to know this information."

"Father was helpless," Edelgard says. "The people in plague doctor suits… they experimented on all of us. One by one we dropped like flies, until only one remained. One lone person who awakened the powers of telekinesis."

Even that part of Edelgard's story mirrors Lysithea's. How much harm has Thales caused?

"And yet," Edelgard says, "The church told me that I was blessed. Lucky. I explained to them what happened, and they told me that everything happens for a reason. That God works in mysterious ways. And it didn't take me long to figure out why they were so quick to write off my suffering."

"You were a tool they could use to inspire awe in others."

"Exactly. The church only cares about power. But unlike our flawed government, it doesn't stop at controlling our actions. The Catholic Church tries to dominate our thoughts until only their doctrine is left. They don't care who gets caught up in their plans if it lets them get people funneling into churches with money in their pockets."

Now's not the time to argue with her on this. When she takes a deep breath, I know that she has more to say.

"The worst part was the other kids," Edelgard says. "The ones who prayed to their cold god in hopes of awakening the telekinesis powers I had. They learned magic tricks to fake it and bullied out kids who didn't take interest. They raised money and donated it to the church because they were told it would make god hear their prayers. My most vivid memory from that town was when I went to the graveyard with flowers for my siblings and I saw a group of kids there practicing levitation magic tricks. My brothers and sisters couldn't even lie in rest while the church was holding the cause of their death up as a blessing by god."

"That sounds terrible," I say. "I can see why you hate the Catholic Church so much."

"And yet you don't agree that it should be burned to the ground," Hubert says. "I can tell by the tone of your voice. I hope you see the light soon, Claude. But in the meantime, you would do well to read up on what our dear principal has been up to."

Not a bad idea. Any more information I can gather on Rhea will help me in the Fódlan situation.

"Thanks for sharing your past with me, Edelgard," I say. "I can't promise I'll agree with you on everything, but your story is powerful and I hope you can change the world for the better going forward."

"I hope so as well," she says. "Have a good day, Claude. And remember that more people suffer every day you tolerate the church."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Edelgard narrows her eyes at me but doesn't make a comment when I rise from my seat. Hubert escorts me out of her room and exits behind me, shutting the door so that we're alone in the hallway together.

"Do not make Edelgard regret telling you such sensitive information, or you'll have me to answer to. I am dead serious about this, Claude. Do you know how easy it is to buy poisons without being tracked?"

Wow, okay. Guess I'm not eating in the dining hall anytime Hubert's around again.

"I think you need to chill out," I say, forcing a yawn. "Edelgard's gonna be fine. Good day, Hubert."

He lets out a "hmph" but doesn't stop me as I walk back to my own room. I enter and close the door behind me, letting a sigh after I'm out of the hallway. What a day. As much as I get along with Ignatz, I'm glad he isn't here so I can take some time to myself.

And of course, instead of relaxing like I probably should I go through all of the court records that Hubert sent me. And as much as I want to disagree with edgy vampire boi, Rhea's role in these trials is hard to deny. Even if Hubert cherry-picked the ones Rhea showed up in, she still participated in dozens of local trials across the country and pushed for more secrecy around the court proceedings in these cases. And in all of them, the priests ended up being declared "not guilty."

There's one other fact lurking in my head that aligns with Hubert's story. I'm positive that Rhea knew about what happened to Dimitri. The way Dimitri talked about believing in me not to betray his trust was a bit odd in the moment, but now it seems like he was signaling to Rhea that he wasn't going to let his trauma get in the way. And how exactly would Rhea, who maintained a Catholic school a thousand miles away from Dimitri's church, know what happened to him there?

The simplest answer is if she was the one who covered up for the priest who molested him.

Deep breaths. In, out, in, out. If Rhea did cover up for the priest, does Dimitri know? He must not. Rhea could have maintained a connection with Dimitri and kept tabs on him so that he wouldn't blab about it to authorities.

If what I suspect is true, I can't forgive Rhea.

#

I can't afford to confront Rhea about my suspicions now when so much is on the line. I do more digging about the Church of Seiros in Fódlan, but with only church documents to access I don't stumble across any dark secrets of theirs. If Rhea protects molesters on Earth, does that have an analogue in Fódlan? I make no progress finding out.

But if Fódlan Edelgard is similar to Earth Edelgard, I know that Fódlan Hubert was holding back when he said that he and Edelgard want to expose corruption in the church. If their desires transfer over, they want to burn the Church of Seiros down to ashes.

I still can't support that. Phasing the church out, maybe. But trying to crush Rhea with military might meant declaring war not only on the church, but likely the Kingdom and Alliance as well. From what I know about Dimitri, he'd never join Edelgard in striking down the church, and Hubert knows that I'm an uneasy ally at best. Realistically, it makes sense for them to bide their time, but from Byleth's conversations I think something is going to happen soon.

But still, if Rhea is hiding as many dark secrets in Fódlan as she is on Earth, I'm not sure I should be going to her with the suspicions I have. Giving her a chance to crush the Empire's future leader and consolidate more of her power could be as disastrous as letting Edelgard's rampage go unchecked.

I set my books down and rub my temples. What am I supposed to do?

A few days later, Byleth asks me to join their class for their next mission, which will have them venturing down to the Holy Tomb.

"I thought you wanted me to stay away from you," I say.

"I thought distance was necessary, but I never wished for it. In this case, I want you to see what's about to happen with your own eyes."

"What _is _going to happen?"

"I'm not sure. But it won't be what Rhea hopes for."

"Sounds ominous."

"I hope it's not. She has some… misunderstandings about who I am that will be rectified during our visit to the Holy Tomb. So what do you say?"

"I'll be there."

"Excellent. Don't show up late."

I spend the rest of my month jumping back between Fódlan and Earth, but I fall behind on school in both. It makes me feel guilty when Dimitri tries to help me out with homework and it takes longer than it should for me to figure the problems out. He's the one who has deep trauma and I'm the one falling behind school because of it while making him pick up the slack for me? I don't feel like a real friend. Even when he hugs me and kisses me on the cheek in private, my fluttering heart can't overtake my anxiety. He nods when I say that I might need space for a while, but I wonder if I'm hurting him more.

Turns out I was an idiot for thinking I could ever run away from thinking about violence and abuse.

I wake up on the morning of the Holy Tomb visit with canker sores in my mouth. They're painful enough that I can barely manage to eat anything for breakfast. The only thought that calms me down is how one way or another, it will be over soon.

I meet up with the Black Eagles house in the cathedral and we go to the Holy Tomb together with Archbishop Rhea. I catch her humming to herself a couple of times, and her smile seems wider than usual. It looks like Byleth was right about Rhea having grand expectations of them, at least. Now let's see if it all comes crashing down.

When I arrive at the Holy Tomb, I first notice the green light filtering down from above. I can't tell where it's coming from. It illuminates the dull, worn stones of the room that stretch from the entrance all the way to a large throne in the back. The throne appears to be carved from the same stone as the rest of the tomb, and Byleth's eyes narrow when they see it.

"Do you recognize that throne, professor?" Rhea says.

A pause. "I do."

"So long..." Rhea closes her eyes. "I have waited so long for this day. Sit upon the throne. I have no doubt you will be gifted a revelation from the goddess."

Our class and Rhea walk through the Holy Tomb until we reach the back steps of the room. Byleth climbs up and sits on the throne. We wait in silence for multiple minutes.

"Nothing," Byleth says. "Too bad for you, Archbishop."

"But how? I… what could be missing?"

"Stop right there," comes Edelgard's voice from behind.

Byleth hops off the throne and draws the Sword of the Creator. "And now the real show begins."

I whirl around to see Edelgard standing at the head of an Imperial legion, with Hubert at her side. I glance around at the rest of the Black Eagles students, who look surprised.

"I was wondering when we'd meet again," Byleth says, "Flame Emperor."

Edelgard chuckles and averts her gaze. "You're too clever for your own good, my teacher."

"This simply cannot be," Ferdinand says. "Edelgard, do you realize what you are doing?"

"I made my choices long ago." She draws an axe. "The only way to dismantle the crest system is to bring down the divine. Which brings me to our mission. Soldiers, steal the crest stones from the caskets."

"Do you even know what those are?" Rhea says. "You… death is too kind for those who have sinned as you have. It is my blood that runs through your veins that kept your bloodline alive, foolish child."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Edelgard says. "So what's it going to be, Rhea?"

"Professor." Rhea turns back to Byleth. "Destroy these infiltrators and kill Edelgard. Only then can this tomb be cleansed of sin."

"I will defend the tomb if I can," Byleth says, "But I cannot kill one of my students. You must understand this, yes?"

"You either stand with the goddess or against her as a traitor," Rhea says. "There is no in between."

"Edelgard," Byleth says. "I will not fight you. I will accompany you back to Enbarr as the new emperor."

Ferdinand gasps. "But Edelgard, your father…"

"I suppose you wouldn't know," Edelgard says. "My father passed recently and your father was put under arrest for crimes against the imperial family. I am now the emperor of the Adrestian Empire. Our dear professor was there as a witness to the proceedings."

"Preposterous," Rhea says. "I was not contacted about this."

"It's true," Byleth says. "Edelgard is the new Adrestian Emperor. The proceedings are often officiated by the Archbishop, but it was not required. Thanks to you, Rhea, I hold an esteemed position within the Church of Seiros that allowed me to substitute."

"That provision was only to be used in the case of emergencies."

"There's been an emergency going on in Enbarr for decades," Edelgard says. "And you don't care about it because of how focused you are on those precious crests that are precious enough for people to conduct blood experiments on children."

"You mean…" Rhea lets out a growl. "The allies of Nemesis."

Edelgard frowns, and then shakes her head. "This doesn't matter. We are now enemies, Archbishop."

"Professor, I will not give the command again," Rhea says. "Crush Edelgard's army and kill her. You have no alternatives."

"Ah, yes, I can finally finish," Byleth says. "Edelgard, I will not fight you and I will accompany you back to Enbarr _if _you call off this attack on the Holy Tomb. Nobody needs to die here today."

"That is acceptable to me," Edelgard says. "As valuable as the crest stones are, your counsel is invaluable."

"What do you say, Rhea?" Byleth looks at her. "Choose wisely. If you are accommodating, I will try to prevent all-out war in Fódlan."

"You will not disobey me," Rhea says. "The goddess will smite you if you fall out of line."

"Sothis is gone forever, Rhea," Byleth says, "And it looks like the time of the Church is about to end."

Byleth walks over towards Edelgard's army. Many of the soldiers point their spears at Byleth, but Edelgard raises a hand and they lower their weapons. Byleth smiles at Edelgard and turns back towards Rhea.

"Funny thing about Sothis," Byleth says. "She hated your guts, Rhea. From the moment I met you, she told me not to trust you. So really, I'm carrying out the will of the goddess more than you ever did."

"You… insolent…"

I hear a loud heartbeat traveling through the floor and up my spine like music at a rock concert. Ba-dump. Ba-dump. B-dump.

Rhea sneers at Byleth. "You are just another failure. I should have tossed you aside like the others."

She starts to glow.

"Ah, it is about time for us to make our retreat," Hubert says. "Look at who, or rather _what, _the Archbishop actually is and as if you want to fight for her. We will welcome any of you with open arms in Enbarr if you decide to join us. So long."

"You will… not escape…"

Rhea's words sound like a deep bellow despite their high pitch. I glance over at her and see her glowing body start to expand.

I roll away from her and look back over my shoulder to see a large, reptilian leg in the spot where I was moments ago. Rhea's body is now shaped like a dragon, with white scales running all over her body.

And not any dragon. I recognize her as the Immaculate One, the creature depicted in church legends that Hubert talked to me about.

"So long," Hubert says. "And don't regret the next choices you make."

He looks right at me when he says that. Then he waves a hand, and he vanishes along with Byleth and Edelgard. The rest of the imperial soldiers begin to retreat out of the Holy Tomb.

"Do not let them escape," Rhea says. "Kill the imperials. We will handle the Hresvelg child later."

The Black Eagles students exchange glances with each other. They all have the same unspoken question on their lips. Is it a good idea to trust Rhea in her current state?

"Now," she says. "Or do I need to crush you as well?"

I'm the first one who takes off after the imperial troops. As if breaking out of a trance, the rest of the Black Eagles students follow me. I'm not planning to engage them unless I must, but Rhea seems like the bigger threat than the imperial army right now.

All I can think about is what will happen when I see Byleth again if I don't submit to Edelgard's rule. Will they try to kill me?

* * *

**Hey, everyone. :) Hope you're all doing well. Turns out grad school is pretty confusing, but I don't have a real project yet so I'm going to keep working on this fic for now. Who says that you have to outgrow fanfic/fandoms? **

**Also it was super surreal to have Earth Hubert not call Edelgard "Lady Edelgard." Like my fingers wanted to type it out. But I didn't think that made as much sense in an irl setting. **

**And here we have it. I don't think it's a surprise at this point, but Byleth is going down the Crimson Flower route. Will things turn out the same way as canon? Probably not since that would be a lame ending for Claude's story. Let's just say that I have some ideas that will incorporate aspects of all four routes, and other stuff that's my own creation. **

**Speaking of multiple routes, I needed to slip Edelgard's story in there so that her motivations make more sense, but there was no way Fodlan Edelgard is telling Claude about what happened to her. So I made an equivalent story for Earth Edelgard, which was difficult to write out at first. But I think I ended up with something that more or less thematically resembles what happened to her in Fodlan. **

**Final comment is that I know a lot of people going down the Crimson Flower route didn't necessarily want to conquer all of Fodlan, but they weren't able to bring themselves to fight against Edelgard. I tried to put Byleth in that situation and have their hand be forced by Rhea. **

**Hope y'all have a wonderful day! :)**


	15. Chapter 14: Outset of a Power Struggle

The imperial soldiers get away, and after they leave the monastery I tell the Black Eagles students to give up pursuit. Easier to report to the knights of Seiros, and if bad comes to worse and Rhea is still berserk we can lie and say that we chased them further. Ferdinand opens his mouth and I can tell that he's going to object, but the others agree with me before he can speak. They all look at me with the unspoken question of "what next?" and I realize that I am now the de facto leader of this group. Me, who couldn't handle a friend group of more than two or three in middle and high school.

But with Edelgard and Byleth both gone, it makes sense that they turn to me. I lead the students back to the cathedral and report what happened to Seteth, including the part about Rhea turning into a dragon.

As I'm finishing up, Rhea walks in behind us in her normal Archbishop outfit. Bernadetta lets out an "eep" and hides behind Dorothea, who gives her a reassuring smile and stands taller.

"My apologies for my… outburst back at the Holy Tomb," Rhea says. "That professor and the Hresvelg child both will know the fury of the goddess, but your kind souls are not to blame."

The Black Eagles students shuffle their feet. I don't think any of them will be forgetting Rhea's behavior when she turned into the Immaculate One. I wonder if Hubert plotted that out from the beginning.

"Edelgard breaking into the Holy Tomb is, for all intents and purposes, a declaration of war against the Church of Seiros," Seteth says. "I expect a formal war declaration will follow soon. Archbishop, I believe we should send Shamir to scout for the Empire's movements."

"Yes." Rhea stares off into the distance. "The goddess and Saint Seiros helped found the Empire. For them to turn on us now is unforgivable. The easiest point of attack for the Empire is Garreg Mach. Claude, I urge you to contact the Alliance and see what can be done about military support. If the church falls, the nobles lose their right to rule over commoners."

"Such a shame that would be," Dorothea mutters.

"I'll see what I can do," I say. "But they're going to squabble like chickens and point fingers. Don't expect any miracles."

"The goddess will be pleased so long as you do your best," Rhea says. "You students are dismissed."

I pay attention to the body language of the Black Eagles students as I leave. Even Ferdinand is tense, and even Caspar is quiet. In fact, the only one who looks calm right now is Petra. At first I wonder if she doesn't fully understand what's happening, but after a quick conversation it's clear that she is worried about her status as a guest from Brigid. If she does not return to the Enbarr and swear fealty to Edelgard, she is worried that the Empire will invade her homeland.

We all go silent after that comment. I can't be the only one thinking about Hubert's comment that the Black Eagles students were welcome back in the Empire. Was he implying that he was going to find a way to hurt them if they didn't return? I'm not putting it past him.

I don't envy the decision of the Black Eagles students. Their faith against their homeland, their family against the friends they made at school.

And choosing the wrong option could mean death.

#

Seteth informs us a couple days later that Shamir reported back and said that imperial forces were likely to arrive on the doorstep of Garreg Mach within two weeks.

"Forget what the Archbishop told you about seeking help from the Alliance," he tells me. "There is no chance that they'll be able to mobilize a reasonable army in that time."

"Do the knights of Seiros stand a chance against the Empire's army?"

"I believe we do," Seteth says, "But it will not be easy. I do not approve of this, but Rhea…"

"What did she do now?"

"She is requesting that all students take up arms against the Empire. Our knights are well trained, but we do not have the numbers to defend this monastery alone."

"Is there a possibility that we can evacuate the monastery and regroup once we have support from the Kingdom and the Alliance?"

"I brought up the possibility, but Rhea will not do that. Losing Garreg Mach will be a blow to morale everywhere. The common folk need symbols to inspire them. If the central church falls, it will be difficult to keep them invested in the war effort."

Difficult to keep them in line, he means. When the commoners realize that the church and lords won't protect them, will they join the empire? Refuse to pay crop taxes and hope they can weather the storm? Then as the infrastructure of Fódlan collapses, Edelgard can strut in and instate herself as the new ruler of Fódlan as a whole.

She and Hubert must have planned this out from the start.

And the worst part is I can't say it's wrong for commoners to side with the Empire. Edelgard cares more for her commoner friends than most lords care for the peasants in their lands, and if she wants to dismantle the crest system then it could give commoners more upward social mobility.

Am I even right in standing against her and Byleth?

A few hours later, the Black Eagles students call me into a private meeting. They ask what my plans are for the upcoming struggle.

"I'm still not sure," I say. "But it looks like you all are stuck between a rock and a hard place."

"I have no ties to the church," Dorothea says, "And if getting rid of the crest system means knocking the nobles off their high horses, I won't object to Edelgard's plans. I have no desire for violence, but it looks like we're about to get caught up in this either way."

"I don't know if I can stand against my father," Caspar says. "He's leading the charge alongside Edelgard. We're not close or anything, but I'd rather not face him."

"Edelgard was the one showing me kindness when I was a… guest," Petra says. "I will be repaying her now."

The room goes quiet. If Petra is a hostage of the Empire like I suspect, she has her hands tied either way. Perhaps the decision for them is not as hard as I thought it was going to be. Standing with the Empire seems like a logical choice for most of them.

"What about you two?" I say, looking at Ferdinand and Linhardt.

"I'm going where I can take the most naps without worrying about people stabbing me," Linhardt says. "And right now, I think the safest place is with Byleth."

There it is. The real reason why all the Black Eagles students are likely to side with the Empire, laid out in clear terms.

"I… am not sure I can return," Ferdinand says. "My father was the prime minster of the Empire, as you may know. He was removed from power and arrested when Edelgard took the throne. All of our house's lands were stripped from us. There's nothing left for me in the Empire."

"Do what you will," Linhardt says. "But if you stand against our professor, you will die."

Ferdinand sputters. "You doubt my strength and conviction?"

"I doubt neither," Linhardt says. "But do you remember what Byleth said about fusing powers with the goddess?"

"Preposterous," Ferdinand says. "Only a fool would-"

"Then how do you propose they escaped the dimension Solon threw them into? How do you propose they know exactly what to do in every battle? And why do you think that Rhea wanted Byleth to sit on the Throne of Knowledge in the first place?"

"Rhea did seem to know something about Byleth's connection to the goddess," I say. "And she mentioned something about them being 'just another failure.' It seemed like she was the one trying to put Byleth into contact with Sothis."

"And it backfired gloriously," Linhardt says. "Now our professor has powers beyond my imagination, so I'm going to do exactly what they tell me to until I can hide somewhere and do crest research for the rest of my life."

"What do you think, Claude?" Ferdinand says. "Do you think we have a chance against Byleth?"

"I think you'll be safer with them," I say. "Plus, it will give you more of an opportunity to look into your father. You can always turn on Edelgard later if you need to."

"You all lack confidence in yourselves."

"And are they wrong?" Dorothea says. "Ferdie, be rational for once. I may still hate your guts, but I don't want you to die a pointless death."

His mouth twists in disgust. "I will consider it. What about you, Claude? Are you planning to swear fealty to the Empire?"

So now I'm the one who needs to make an impossible decision. I don't have any real connection to the Alliance, and the way wealthy nobles play with money and exploit commoners makes me ready to point my bow at them. The only problem is-

"I'll see what the rest of my house and the Kingdom students think," I say. "If I can get them on board, we can stand against the church together."

Ferdinand, Caspar, and Bernadetta grimace when I mention fighting the church.

"Good luck convincing the Kingdom students," Linhardt says. "They're all wrapped up in their honor and chivalry. Sounds exhausting, if you ask me, but the church is responsible for upholding their traditional values."

His words make sense, but there's no point in getting trampled by someone with godlike powers. Dimitri has to see that, right?

#

When I approach Dimitri in the cathedral, I see the stiff rage in his posture before I can see his face. When he looks up at me, the bloodlust in his eyes makes me pause. This isn't the thrill of battle I've seen in some other soldiers. This is the gaze of a predator hunting down its prey.

"I'll have that girl's head," Dimitri says. "Just you wait."

The force in his voice leaves me speechless. How am I supposed to respond to that?

"Ignore him," comes a voice from behind me. "There's nothing you can do to change who he is."

I step back so I can see both Dimitri and the new person, who I recognize as Felix.

"The boar prince has finally revealed his true colors yet again." Felix's eye twitches.

I glance over at Dimitri. He doesn't seem to register the comment.

"This happened before?" I say.

"It's not important. This is who he is, at his core. A beast who cares only for slaughter."

"Dimitri," I say. "Are you talking about Edelgard?"

"…"

"This happened after he was told that Edelgard was the Flame Emperor," Felix says. "She was connected to the group who killed his parents and my brother."

Must be Thales and his gang, since we know that the Flame Emperor was working with them. They sure do get around.

Which reminds me, why did Byleth agree to work with the people that killed their father? I'm certain they have something else planned.

"So there's no chance of convincing either of you to fall back instead of engaging with the Imperial army, then?"

"Are you joking?" Felix smirks. "This is my best chance to test my skills against real foes instead of untrained bandits. And as for the boar prince here… try convincing him of anything at all."

Guess that's it, then. I have to choose between Dimitri and Byleth.

"The rest of us won't be easy to persuade either," Felix says. "Dedue is dedicated to Dimitri. Ingrid is dedicated to her… knightly ideals." His face twists in disgust. "As is Ashe. Mercedes wants to stick with Annette, who will stay to keep tabs on her father."

"And Sylvain?"

Felix snorts. "You can have him if you want. I won't miss him."

If what Earth Sylvain told me transfers over to here, he doesn't have a great relationship with his parents, and I doubt he has fond feelings for his homeland. Still, fighting the seven other Blue Lions students is unacceptable when I know that my friends over on Earth will die if I strike them down.

"Don't be a coward, Claude," Felix says. "We can crush the Imperial army so long as we're focused."

He's saying this like he doesn't remember how the Battle of Eagle and Lion went. Still, if the Blue Lions don't budge then my hand will be forced.

I guess it's time to give my answer to the Black Eagles.

#

Dorothea is the first one I see, and she takes me into private to discuss their plans. Her room is simple, lacking the glamor and jewels I expect in favor of messy piles of sheet music.

"I can't join you," I say. "There's a possibility I could convince my house to join you, but the Blue Lions will never agree. They're my friends too, and I have to make sure they don't die at Edelgard's hands."

"So you're our enemy now. Does that mean you're going to expose our plan to escape?"

"And have more of my friends get executed by Rhea? That takes the point out of it, don't you think? If I were planning to rat you out, I wouldn't be here right now."

"Fair enough. Then I suppose all I can hope for is that we don't face each other on the battlefield. I can't explain it, but I feel a sort of… kindred spirit in you. I know we never interacted much, but as time went on I got the feeling that I could trust you."

Huh. Does she have gaydar or is there something else going on here?

"I can promise that if we do face each other, I'll do whatever I can to avoid targeting you."

"And instead you'll go after some other poor fool." Dorothea averts her gaze. "Why did it have to come to this, Claude? I should have… seen something. Stopped Edie before she got too powerful. All nobles are the same, and now our hands are tied."

"I thought you were enthusiastic about dismantling the crest system."

"Oh, I am, but Edie is still a noble. She doesn't understand what it's like when common people suffer."

I think back to the story Edelgard told me on Earth. Experiments that resulted in the death of her many siblings. It's possible that happened here on Fódlan too, but I think Dorothea is correct regardless. When nobles feel true pain, they have the power to drag other people into their mess.

"So I guess this is a goodbye, isn't it?" Dorothea says.

"A goodbye for now. If we're still alive when the war ends, I want to meet up somewhere and grab a bite to eat."

"Are you flirting with me at now of all times?"

"I'm trying to be a friend. We'll all need some to get through this."

"I guess we will. Goodbye, Claude. Try not to die out there."

"Goodbye, Dorothea."

After I leave her room and shut the door behind me, I let out a sigh. These decisions about who is friend and who is foe will never satisfy me, but I must keep making them. I have no other choice.

#

I do my best to avoid Rhea and the Knights for a few days after the Black Eagles students make their escape. The knights send out a "rescue party," but I don't think anyone is fooled. After seeing what Rhea did to the Western Church members who infiltrated the Holy Mausoleum, we all know what will happen to any Black Eagles students who get captured. Luckily for them, the knights' search comes up empty-handed. I haven't seen Rhea explode and kill an innocent person like a movie villain who needs to be portrayed as evil, so at least she's keeping things under control for now.

As the Imperial army approaches, I call a meeting for the Golden Deer students. As they enter the Golden Deer classroom, I realize how little I know about some of these people. And the ones I do know like Lysithea and Ignatz could be different in this world. Still, we've fought side by side and trusted each other with our lives. I'm hoping that counts for something.

"The Empire is marching towards the monastery, and we won't be able to get reinforcements from the Kingdom or the Alliance in time. Still, Rhea is planning on holding firm. I'm not here to sugar coat things. There will be a bloody battle. If you go into this fight, you could die."

"And if we don't, we'll be hanging from a noose as deserters," Leonie says. "But I don't mind getting a piece of the action. If Byleth is teaming up with Captain Jeralt's killers, I'll shoot her down where she stands."

"I must agree with the commoner," Lorenz says. "I know you like to partake in shallow tactics, but even you wouldn't dare resort to desertion. This will be our chance to prove ourselves as the protectors of the Alliance—and Fódlan."

The other five stay quiet for now. I'm hoping that means they have some common sense.

"I don't want to die out on a battlefield," Hilda says. "I'll find a way to weasel out of this."

"Umm…" Marianne clears her throat. "I don't mind going to see the goddess, but I'd just get in the way. You're better off without me."

"We can have you be a medic waiting in the back," I say. "You should be safe."

"I'm ready to protect this monastery," Raphael says. "After all, I can't make sure my sister's safe if the Empire can use the path through Garreg Mach to invade the Alliance."

"I'm in as well," Ignatz says. "The Empire must be stopped."

"Are you sure?" I say. "The Alliance lords don't care about you. This isn't your fight."

"Preposterous," Lorenz says. "All the people of the Alliance must stand strong at its defense."

I survey the room to gauge people's expressions. The only one who hasn't talked is Lysithea, and she's staring at the wall in concentration.

"I think what we need," Lysithea says, "Is bargaining power by standing together."

"Bargaining power?" Ignatz says. "With whom?"

"I'm not too worried about me, Lorenz, Hilda, Marianne, or Claude," Lysithea says. "If the church throws us into battle and we die, our families could withdraw support from the church in the upcoming war. They might even defect to the Empire. Besides, we're more useful to the Empire alive than dead."

"As hostages, you mean," I say.

Lysithea has a point. There's always a small risk of getting killed by a stray arrow, but we're too valuable for both sides to let die. This is medieval warfare where rich people actually get their hands dirty in battle instead of dodging drafts by complaining about their bone spurs. So there must be a failsafe to ensure that they don't get killed.

"My family would never defect," Lorenz says. "My father is a devout follower of the Church of Seiros."

"Not too loud there," Hilda says. "I think Lysithea is right. We want to have leverage over them to keep us safe."

"The problem is Ignatz, Raphael, and Leonie," Lysithea says. "The church is free to send you three to your deaths, since your families aren't powerful enough to retaliate. That is, unless we do something about it."

Ah, the old unionization trick. Workers individually have little power, but when everyone threatens to strike then it puts pressure on the company.

"Here's what I'm thinking," Lysithea says. "We go to church officials and give them our offer. If all eight of us survive the battle, the nobles in our group will go back to our homelands and pressure our parents to send support. But if even one of us dies, we tell them to stay out of the war and let the church crumble."

"How much sway do you have over your family?" Hilda says. "Mine won't listen to me about matters of war, especially after I spent years convincing them I have no skill at it whatsoever."

"They don't have to know that," Lysithea says. "They're desperate."

"They could refuse and put our heads on pikes, you know," Leonie says.

"Then they _definitely _lose the Alliance's support," Lysithea says. "And what message does that send to the Kingdom? At that point, it's easier to join the Empire and rebuild the Church of Seiros anew with a puppet Archbishop. The Empire, Kingdom, and Alliance have come together to pressure out Archbishops in the past. Rhea knows we could do it again."

"I think Lysithea's idea is excellent," I say. "We all have to be in this together. Are we all okay taking safer positions in the battle?"

One by one, everyone agrees except Lorenz.

"There is no honor in letting others die for us," he says.

"This battle is a fool's effort," I say. "With Byleth at the helm of Edelgard's strike force, a Pyrrhic victory is the best we can hope for. More likely, this will be a repeat of the Battle of Eagle and Lion."

"Regardless of the outcome," Hilda says, "Your father's going to need your help, Lorenz. If you want to ensure that the Alliance is safe and secure, you need to stay alive first."

"Very well." He adjusts the fake rose in his shirt pocket. "It leaves a foul taste in my mouth, but for the good of the Alliance I shall acquiesce."

"All right," I say. "I'll deliver the message. Let's all make it through this alive, okay?"

A round of nods. Looks like it's time for our first gambit as the Golden Deer house.

#

I deliver our request to Seteth instead of Rhea. After explaining our terms, he lets out a sigh.

"It is sad to see war already pushing you to protect your own lives and throwing others in the line of fire instead."

"We wouldn't need to do anything of the sort if Rhea pulled back from Garreg Mach and gave us time to join forces with the Empire and Alliance," I say. "I know you recruit many knights as commoners with promises of food and shelter to send them off to die. If I had the power to fix that, I would. But since I can't, I'm starting with making sure my friends are safe."

"You would do well to watch your tongue," Seteth says. "I will make no claims that everyone in the church is perfect. We are, after all, only human. But we are the beacon of hope and order that Fódlan needs."

"Oh, I thought it was obvious by now," I say. "You need our support. That means letting me say what I want and agreeing to our demands. I think they are quite generous."

"If dealing with you turns duke Riegan against us, we will support a different house to lead the Leicester Alliance. I harbor you no ill will and will let the comment slide, but you are not untouchable."

"Not if all of our houses band together," I say. "That's what our request is about as well. You might refuse if it meant angering one of our houses, but all of them? Do that and your little holy war gets a lot harder. All we want is for you to protect eight people. If you can't do that, then we're doomed regardless."

Seteth clenches his jaw. I maintain eye contact with him until he responds.

"Very well. I will do my best to ensure that you and your classmates are safe."

"Thanks for your help, Seteth. Let's do our best to make it out of this."

"This is what it was like last time, you know."

"Hmm?"

"The powerful find ways to shield themselves and leave the poor and helpless to die. It's happening again."

I frown. Wasn't the last large-scale war in Fódlan centuries ago? Seteth couldn't have a personal tie to any of them.

"Don't worry," I say. "I'll be putting myself in danger later. I'm going to put an arrow through Edelgard's eye and slice Byleth's throat open. We'll throw the Empire into chaos and then crush them. Just not now when we don't have the resources we need."

I'm guessing I sound more confident than I feel. I know that Byleth's claim about having divine powers is true. How can we hope to defeat someone like that?

"Now you are sounding like Rhea," Seteth says. "I suppose your attitude is not what I should be focusing on right now. Good day, Claude."

I try to calm my stomach as he walks away and the sound of his footsteps begin to fade. Can I make it through this war while protecting all of my friends? I don't want to give myself hope and have it all come crashing down, but it looks like there's a chance.

#

Seteth does follow through and get us assigned to a flank where we're not likely to see much action. Edelgard's forces draw closer by the day, and a couple weeks after the scene at the Holy Tomb they're on our doorstep. All of our class take our positions except Marianne, who's in the monastery's infirmary ready to heal wounded soldiers.

All of us have basic bow training, and given that we have the high ground away from the front lines it makes sense for us to be providing cover fire. We're assisted in this regard by Shamir, who tells us when to fire and where to aim.

"This is my first time commanding a legion of archers," she says. "Manuela couldn't have trained you any more with bows to make it easier on both of us, huh?"

I ignore the comment. Shamir herself is a deadeye sniper and targets the mages in the Imperial army. From far away while raining down arrows, it doesn't feel like the battle has actually started yet. I'm hoping it stays that way for us.

"What should I do with my magic?" Lysithea says. "I have limited uses, so I don't want to run out."

"Does it look like I know about magic?" Shamir says. "Do what you think is appropriate. If you run out, pick up a bow and start shooting."

Lysithea nods and narrows her gaze at the horde of Imperial soldiers approaching. She fires a ball of darkness at them that explodes and takes out over a dozen. I had forgotten how much of a tactical nuke she is.

The Empire forces continue to approach, and I keep my aim steady as bile starts to rise in the back of my throat. Soon, the knights near us begin to engage with the enemy, and Shamir tells us to fire at will.

It's a different sort of skill that comes with firing at long distance into an area while making sure to aim away from our forces. That last part gets trickier when the knights intermingle with the Imperial soldiers in battle. Shamir doesn't seem to have any problem loosing arrows into the middle of the fight knowing there's a small chance it could hit an ally, and I try to aim for the same spots she's going for.

"So glad I'm not in there," Hilda says. "Remind me to thank Lysithea after this is all over."

"Yeah, I'm glad we're all…"

I trail off as I see a group of healing priests rushing out of the monastery. Must have been assigned to provide support in a key combat zone. I squint my eyes and I think I can make out-

Oh no. Nonono.

"Hilda, look at that group." I point at the healers. "Is that Marianne in there?"

Hilda gasps. "What's our baby girl doing out there?"

Shit. Who let this happen?

"Shamir," I say. "One of my friends is out there heading to the front lines. I'm going to get her out of there."

"Don't be stupid. She's beyond your help here. Focus on the battle."

I start to take off.

"Claude," Leonie says. "Shamir's right. You can't protect her, but you can help make sure the rest of us stay safe."

I don't care. I don't _fucking _care. I swing my bow over my back and sprint off towards Marianne. Time becomes a blur. I'm panting, my lungs are burning, and I have no sense of the world around me. The screams and rings of metal on the battlefield become background noise. On my way, I encounter a few Imperial soldiers who look inexperienced. I draw the blade at my hip and hack at them until they fall to the ground. I can't tell if they're wounded or dead. In fact, I have a hard time caring.

What kind of person am I becoming?

I push that thought to the back of my mind. Keep questioning myself and I might hesitate long enough to die. All I have to focus on is getting to Marianne. When I reach the bottom steps of Garreg Mach, I see her with the group of other priests behind the main line of the Knights of Seiros.

I can do this. I can keep her safe.

An Imperial soldier breaks through the line, charging at the priests.

No.

The soldier lunges, slicing open a healer's throat.

I need to get there in time.

She turns her attention to Marianne.

Please…

The soldier raises her blade. Marianne closes her eyes.

No!

The soldier rams her sword into Marianne's stomach. After she draws the blade out, Marianne crumples to the ground.

I let out a roar that's drwoned out by a blood rush in my ears. I lunge towards the soldier who attacked Marianne. She barely whirls around in time, and with the tempo advantage I force her back with a flurry of slashes. She trips and falls backwards, looking up at me in terror.

Too late.

I ram my blade through her again and again. Even after she stops moving, I give her a couple more stabs before going back over to Marianne. Her eyes aren't glazed over, and I see her move her mouth. The motion looks painful.

"It's okay, Claude," she says. "I'm going to see the goddess now."

She stops moving. I grab onto her hand, and the pulse is so weak that I can't feel it. This can't be happening. I can't be-

A spray of red. I whirl around and see a field of corpses where the Knights of Seiros used to be.

And walking through them is Byleth, their face devoid of emotion and their eyes glowing with a dull, eerie light.

The Ashen Demon, here at full power.

A couple of the priests try to use offensive white magic against Byleth. She shrugs off the attacks and takes the healers down in one hit. Another two bodies for the pile. The rest of the priests flee. Byleth turns to me, blood dripping from the Sword of the Creator in their hands.

"You… monster." The words come out of my mouth, unbidden. "Bring her back."

Byleth looks down at Marianne's body. Their expression softens.

"I know you can turn back time," I say. "Bring her back."

"And what will rewinding the clock do, Claude? You weren't fast enough to save her. That won't change if I allow these events to play out again. I was too far away to take her captive. There is nothing I can do to help her—or you."

"Liar." I raise by blade. It's shaky in my hands. "I can't believe… you played me for so long."

"I thought you of all people would understand," Byleth says. "Peaceful requests won't convince the church and nobles to relinquish their power. To take down people in power, you must make them bleed."

"Empires like Adrestia only conquer, pillage, kill, consume, repeat. There is no justice in what you are doing. You talk a big game about imperialism causing the genocide against Native Americans, but here you are slaughtering helpless people just like America did."

"Are you a church zealot now too?" Byleth narrows their eyes. "They're hardly helpless creatures, you know."

I let out a scream and charge at Byleth. They parry my attacks while maintaining the relaxed posture of someone chatting with a friend. Then they slam a knee into my stomach. My vision swirls as I stumble back.

"Give it up, Claude," they say. "Go back to Earth and hold your friends close."

"Dimitri's caught up in this war because of you. He won't stop fighting until Edelgard is killed. And now that I see how little you care about the students like Marianne who trusted you-"

I go in for another attack. Byleth steps to the side and grabs my arm. Flames appear at their fingertips, burning through my clothes and singeing my skin. I let out a cry and drop my blade. Byleth pulls me forward and I go tumbling down to the ground. My vision flashes with pain, and when I look up at Byleth they point my own sword at me.

"Go running back to Earth, Claude," they say. "Now. Or I kill you."

I'm panting and trembling. Having a blade tip at my face banishes the battle rage from me. I'm alone, helpless, and the teacher I trusted with my life is going to kill me if I don't follow their whims.

I grab onto my Falchion pendant and begin traveling back to Earth.

"Yes," Byleth says. "Don't squander this chance. Live out the rest of your peaceful life. Forget that any of this ever happened to you."

Despite the situation, something about Byleth's words is soothing. I try to stay angry at them as the black engulfs me and takes me to Earth.

I _will_ return.

* * *

**Surprise! I uploaded two chapters instead of one. And unfortunately, this is where we have the first death of a Garreg Mach student. And it's not going to be our last, either. War phase is brutal.**

**We don't get to see the full line of events that occurs here, which was something that ended up happening naturally but I was glad for it because the end of this chapter in the CF route is a little weird. **

**Also the more I thought about this war the more I think realistically there would have been more hostages captured and negotiations happening for the noble students with powerful families. FE is a series that's mainly about the battles/war but it made sense for me to have some discussion about prisoners of war. **

**Well, I hope you all have a wonderful day. Next chapter will be focused on Claude's realworld life before we jump into the *spoilers* timeskip. **


	16. Chapter 15: The Crossroads of Fate

**Content Warning: Suicide**

I reappear in my closet in the dorm room I share with Ignatz at the on Earth. We worked out the system a while back. I'll give him premature heart attacks if I keep appearing out of thin air when he's in the room, so I take the closet and then knock to let him know I'm there. After I'm done rapping my knuckles on the door, I hear someone stand up.

"Claude, is that you? Where have you been?"

Oops. Guess I've been in Fódlan for a while. I don't think I visited Earth at all since Byleth sided with Edelgard and they fled the Holy Tomb together. But no matter. I reach for the handle and swing the door open, giving Ignatz a smile.

He lets out a scream.

"Your… face…" his cheeks go pale.

My face? I don't remember it getting wounded. I press a hand to my cheek and when I look at my palm it's covered in blood. Oh, right. Byleth pulled me to the ground face-first after slicing through an entire legion of church knights.

"It's okay," I say. "It's not mine. I think."

"You _think_?"

"Look, it doesn't matter right now. Besides, we have bigger issues to deal with. Have you seen Marianne recently?"

"Yeah, she was in class yesterday, unlike you." Ignatz pauses. "Speaking of which, you still haven't explained why you were gone so long."

"Got in a fight. Do you think Marianne is in her room right now?"

"It's late, so probably. What's going on, Claude?"

"No time to explain. It's probably best if you stay behind."

I walk past him and leave the door. The sound of his footsteps follow me. I don't have time to convince him to stay right now, so I don't comment.

"What's so urgent about all of this?" Ignatz says.

I go up to Marianne's door and knock. Nothing. I pull my phone out of my pocket and call Hilda. Good thing I can keep personal items like my phone and wallet on me without them going to Fódlan and they'll be fine when I return.

"Who are you calling?" Ignatz says. "What's going on here? Oh, and do you know anything about Byleth? They went missing at the same time as you."

"They were the one who did this to me," I say. "And I need to focus right now.

"Hey, bitchboy," comes Hilda's voice from over the phone. "Is this you you're going to air more grievances with me?"

"I don't need your help to process our toxic relationship. I want to know about Marianne."

"You know what? She seemed happy today. I know she's been hard on herself for not doing well in school, but today she was taking everything in stride like a superhero. She even dolled herself up and looked super cute. Ah, I should have taken notes."

My stomach drops. I've heard this story before.

"Did she say anything strange to you?"

"Strange? I don't think so."

"When you left the dorms today, what did she say?"

"Uh…" Hilda pauses. "She told me goodbye."

"And does she usually say that?"

"It's normally 'see you later' when it's anything at all."

"Fuck."

"Claude? What's going on?"

"You need to get over here right this second and let me into her room. I'm covered in blood, but don't worry about that."

"Don't worry about… you're not making sense, Claude. Are you feeling okay?"

"Not at all," I say. "Get over here soon, okay?"

"Um, all right."

"See you soon."

I look back at Ignatz, who's staring at me with a mix of curiosity and trepidation. I'm squeezing my phone so hard that I wonder if it's going to snap.

"Bad news?" Ignatz says.

"The worst. We need to get her-"

Another gasp from the hallway. I look over to see Ashe staring at me, phone up to his ear and jaw dropped. Must not have wanted to take a call around his roommate, and now he gets dragged into my mess. Poor guy.

"Uh, I'll talk to you later, okay?" he says. "I just saw something that needs my attention. Love you."

He hangs up and runs over to me.

"I'm fine," I say. "But I don't think Marianne is."

Ashe blinks and looks at her door. Guess Earth people aren't as ready to respond to life or death situations. But I know these dorm walls are as sturdy as stone, so there's no way we can get in through force. We have to wait for Hilda to arrive, and I have no idea how long that will take.

Wait.

"Ashe," I say. "You can pick locks, right?"

"I don't like where this is going."

"Please. She's in danger."

"In her own room? But how-" his eyes widen in realization. "Oh no. You have a good reason to think that's happening?"

"I do. Please, Ashe."

"Wait," Ignatz says. "What's happening? Why is Marianne in danger?"

Ashe zips back into his room. He emerges less than a minute later with a lockpicking set.

"Uh," Ignatz clears his throat. "Are you sure we should be doing this?"

"I'll take the blame if I'm wrong," I say, "But I don't think I am."

Ashe pops the door open nearly instantly. He's the first one in the room, and I follow in to make sure I can pull him away if I see what I think I will.

Nothing. Hilda and Marianne's room is totally empty.

"Maybe she's in the bathroom?" Ashe says, pointing to the door. "Marianne, are you in there?"

No response. I didn't know that some of the dorms had private bathrooms in them. Guess it makes sense given how rich the people who go to this school are.

I go over and try the handle. Locked.

"Uh, I can pick that lock too, but I'm worried she's being quiet and we'll walk in on her," Ashe says.

"Marianne, if you're in there let us know," I say. "Otherwise we're about to come barging in."

Silence. I exchange a glance with Ashe. He nods and picks the lock. When he turns the door, I put a hand over his.

"Let me," I say. "I have more experience seeing stuff like this."

"If you're sure." He takes a step back.

I take a deep breath and open the door. When I look inside, I first process all the red. It hits me harder than I expect it to, and I stand frozen.

Behind me, I hear Ignatz start to scream.

#

After I recover, my first move is to report what happened directly to Rhea. Ashe and Ignatz argue, saying that they can alert the administration while I take a shower and change my clothes to get the blood off.

I walk off before they can argue further. It's my fault that Marianne died, and I'm not letting anyone else get dragged into this. I hear them both follow behind. Ugh, what did I do to deserve being friends with such sweet boys who care about seeing me safe and healthy? It's as endearing as it is annoying for me in the moment.

I walk into Rhea's office without knocking to see her talking to Dimitri. He jumps to his feet and looks at me. Sooner or later, I'm going to get used to seeing shock on people's faces.

"Claude, where have you-"

"I know, I know, I'll explain later," I say. "Rhea, we found Marianne's body in the private bathroom in her dorm."

"Her… body?" Rhea maintains her calm tone of voice.

"Yes. Unfortunately, it seems like she-"

I hear a gunshot go off. This world isn't going to give me a moment of rest, is it? Catching people up on Marianne can wait if the living are in danger. Rhea frowns and looks out the door.

"Children, you all stay in here," she says. "I'm going to check out-"

A bullet flies through the wooden door and ricochets off Rhea's laptop. Before I know it, I'm grabbing Dimitri and diving into cover behind a bookshelf. Ashe and Ignatz stand frozen.

What the _fuck._

Rhea growls at the door, storming over and thrusting it open. Outside stand three men in police officer uniforms. The one on the left blows off the barrel of his gun, seemingly for effect. The man in the middle has long brown hair, red earrings, a chinstrap beard, and a smirk that nags at me. I haven't seen this man before, and yet I'm sure that I have.

"Please, officers," Ashe says. "What's going on?"

"That reaction never gets old," the one on the right says. Looking at me, "Oh, what's this? I wasn't aware Sharia law required you to bathe in blood every day. Or was this what happened when you tried to claim your 72 virgins?"

I feel Dimitri stiffen next to me. "Don't you talk about him like that."

"Quiet." I slap a hand over his mouth. "Are you trying to get a bullet to the stomach?"

As usual, my guns are back in my room. If the police decide to open fire, we're all dead meat. I glance over at Rhea, who looks more furious than scared. Perhaps she has some of the same powers here as she does in Fódlan.

"That was a warning shot," the one on the left says. "We're the heroes here, you know. It's our job to stop criminals like your precious principal here."

"Insolent fools." Rhea's fingers start to twitch. "You storm into my office and scar these poor children? I'm half tempted to leave your guts all over the floor."

Ignatz and Ashe flinch, while I take the moment to exhale. If Rhea focuses the attention of the cops on herself, I might have a better chance to grab a weapon if a fight does break out.

"Admit it," the man in the middle says. "You've been harboring sexual predators all this time, Rhea."

"Uncle," Dimitri says. "What are you doing here? I told you-"

"Silence. This is not about you, boy. It never has been."

"So this is your gambit, Arundel," Rhea says. "You cannot arrest me. You don't have the power."

"As a police officer, I can do whatever I please. So if you care about these brats, you'll do exactly what I say."

"You can't use us like that," Ignatz says. "You're supposed to protect us."

"No," I say. "This is par for the course. The police originated as a slave patrol force in the 1800s. Their goals haven't changed as much in the past couple of centuries as they'd like us to believe."

"Ah, I love it when I can be blunt," Arundel says. "It's beautiful how systems can outlive the people who created them. But lucky for us, we're in the right this time. We got tipped off from a helpful source that you were sequestering child molesters." A smile. "Catholics are all the same, I'm starting to realize. Cloaked in the corruption and lies while they pretty on the most frightened kids they can find. A part of me is impressed at how low you'll sink, but that's what lets me take you in today."

Edelgard must have told them. Is this the Earth version of the people who were affiliated with her attack on Garreg Mach?

"I knew this day was going to come," Rhea says. "You have no idea what I'm capable of, Arundel. I'll dispose of you here and now if I need to."

"For what it's worth," I say. "He is right. I looked into it myself. Rhea, you did cover up for a number of sexual assault cases where Catholic priests were involved."

"You can't blame her for that," Dimitri says. "I didn't want anything to happen to him. I…"

"Dimitri." Ashe's eyes go wide. "You…"

Rhea takes a deep breath. "I suppose that I can no longer coexist with you humans, so there's no harm in telling you the truth."

The other students in the room flinch. The two cops flanking Arundel look confused. Arundel himself smiles. What a wild day this must be for people who haven't done as much digging into Rhea as Edelgard and I have.

"Claude." Rhea turns to me. "It's true that I manipulated trials to my will, but you're missing one key detail."

"I don't think one detail will change anything."

"Oh? Did you look at what happened to the accused priests after they were let go?"

Huh. I did look what happened to a couple of them. They continued in their positions, but fell ill and died or got into lethal accidents shortly after. It was kind of a strange trend, now that I think about it.

Wait. She can't be saying-

"I see that you understand," Rhea says. "The law is flawed, Claude. A prison cannot contain an abuser forever. And for them, there is no hope of salvation."

"How were you able to orchestrate the 'accidents?'" I say.

"It's amazing what you can do when you have enough money and you know where to look."

I know she's right. The rich can do as they please, and there are resources that let them silence anyone who gets in their way. I've never heard of anyone using it for good before.

"Principal Rhea." Dimitri blanches. "Are you… did you… I didn't want him to get hurt. God tells us to turn the other cheek."

"Which is what lets people like him keep on abusing," Rhea says. "His life is worthless, and he can rot away in hell."

"So you're admitting it," Arundel says. "You committed several first-degree murders with the assassinations you planned out."

The cop on the left raises his gun at Rhea, and my heart skips a beat. Gun safety rule number one is to never point your gun at someone unless you're planning to fire. I wait for the gunshot to come, but his finger stays on the trigger.

"Dirty Catholics," the cop says. "Not only molesters, but murderers too? After we burn down all the mosques that have infested this country, we'll come for you next."

"Now that's enough," Arundel says. "Rhea here is our only target. I hope that if she dies over here, then…"

The way Arundel's talking makes me think that he knows multiple versions of Rhea. And if he knows Fódlan Rhea, that means he must be a dimension hopper like me and Byleth. There's one more person I know who travels between Earth and Fódlan. And now I know why Arundel's expression and voice are so familiar to me.

"Thales," I say.

Arundel's gaze snaps over at me. "Ah, yes. The brat that decided to get in the way. You ruined my test by staying alive, you know."

"Claude," Ignatz says. "You know this officer?"

"You could say that." I glance around the room for anything I could use as a weapon.

What did Thales mean by his test? It must be something that has to do with Fódlan, since I doubt Thales cares about my fate on Earth at all.

"I get it," I say. "You were trying to kill me to see if I died over there as well."

I get confused looks from the other students, and Arundel's smirk widens.

"Not quite as foolish as you look. You can imagine that it's easier to kill people here than it is there. If I could take out my adversaries by killing this version of them…" He places a hand on his chin. "I suppose any more monologuing will only waste time. Officers, kill the Middle-Eastern boy. We'll cover it up by claiming we were in danger like we always do."

I see the officer on the left swivel his gun towards me. I duck behind the bookcase as a shot goes off. I don't feel any pain, so it looks like I'm safe for now.

"You will not trample over innocents any longer," Rhea says. Her voice has the same deep, distorted quality as when she turned into a dragon in the Holy Tomb.

A light starts to glow from around the bookshelf. Ah, shit.

I hear the officers cry out in panic. A couple more gunshots go off, and Rhea lets out a roar. Dimitri is stupid enough to try and peek out from behind the bookshelf, and I pull him back to safety. At this point, I can only hope that Ashe and Ignatz have the good sense to take cover.

After a few more shots go off, I hear sounds of footsteps in the hallway running away.

"I will hunt you all down," Rhea says, "And I will savor tearing you apart limb from limb."

I wait a full 60 seconds before peeking out. Rhea is in the form of a dragon, which looks like a much smaller form of the Immaculate One I saw in Fódlan. She begins to glow again and reverts to a human. A bullet is lodged in her arm, and green blood drips from the wound.

"P-Principal Rhea," Ignatz says. "Are you-"

"I need to protect the other students," Rhea says, "But I can't leave you here. Especially if they're after you, Claude."

"I'll be safe in my room," I say. "Everyone, come with me. Rhea, you go and make sure the others are safe."

I don't bother waiting for confirmation. I take off towards my room, only slowing down when I realize that the others won't be in as good running shape as I am. I peek around every corner to look for cops before darting into a new hallway. Time blurs when I'm in a battle, and I have no idea how long it's been by the time I usher everyone into my room.

I breathe a sigh of relief after the door closes and we're all safely in my room. Closed and locked doors don't always stop police murders, but it's one layer of defense between me and them. I instruct the others to stand away from the door in case more bullets fire through.

"You seem awfully calm right now," Ashe says.

"Seen some shit. Gimme a sec."

I unlock my gun safe and pull out my handgun. I leave it unlocked in case I also need to assemble my assault rifle.

"I didn't know you…" Ignatz trails off. "I thought we weren't allowed to have weapons in the dorms."

"Not the point right now."

I go over to my drawer, unlock it, and pull out ammunition. I load the bullets into my gun. Generally it's not a good idea to do that unless I know that I'll need to shoot something, but these cops won't give me the chance if they come barging in.

"What happened to principal Rhea?" Ashe says. "And how did you know that Arundel man, Claude? This must be some sort of bad dream."

"Focus on staying alive for now," I say.

A knock sounds on my door. For a second, all of us go quiet.

"Claude, are you in there?" It's Lysithea's voice.

"What are you doing out there?" I say. "This is a lockdown situation."

"The cops were looking for you. They said-"

Gunshots sound from down the hall. I curse under my breath as I run over and swing the door open. Lysithea is looking in the direction of the gunshot, frozen.

"Come in with us," I say.

Lysithea shakes herself back to alertness and darts into my room. I slam the door shut and back away from it.

"You're going to have to tell me later where all that blood came from," she says.

"You of all people should be able to guess. Oh, speaking of which, Thales is here."

Her eyes widen. "Where did you see him?"

"He's the one leading the cops. Wearing the skin of someone named Arundel."

"I still don't know who you think my uncle is," Dimitri says, "But he didn't try to deny it. What in the world is going on, Claude?"

"I can explain later. Let's-"

More gunshots sound. I growl and press my back to the wall. I wonder if they're shooting up this place for fun. I never thought they'd be able to get away with terrorizing rich kids like this, but I suppose they're more confident with Thales at their helm.

Footsteps approach my door. Fuck.

"All right," comes a voice from the other side. "Do we want to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

"I'm not opening that door, if that's what you're asking," I say.

"We have a warrant."

"You also have a license to kill in the form of a police badge. We're staying here, thank you very much."

Chuckles from the other side of the door.

"Your confidence is cute, kid." The voice is different. "How about this? You turn in the terrorist and we let the rest of you go."

"Terrorist?" Ignatz says. "None of us here-"

"Don't bother," I say. "They're talking about me because of my heritage. You're not going to change their minds."

"Ah, so the talkative one is the Muslim." A third voice. "You speak English well for a terrorist."

"How can you say something like that?" Dimitri replies. "Claude didn't do anything. None of us did."

"Aw, so he has an English name. How cute."

Pretty sure Claude is French, but I'm going to let that one slide.

"Listen," the first cop says. "We have the master keys to the dorm from the green-haired man. You can either open the door or we'll be less accommodating when we have to bring down justice on you."

I want to say that they're bluffing, but Seteth does have access to the dorm rooms for emergency purposes. It's not difficult to imagine them manipulating or threatening him into giving over the key.

"What do you think, Claude?" Lysithea says. "If Thales picked these cops, they're not likely to be the accommodating type to begin with."

"That's what I'm thinking," I say. "I know you want me dead, so I'm going to call your bluff."

"Wrong choice, kid."

I hear a key going into a lock. With a bit of fidgeting, the lock turns.

After this, I can never look back.

Three cops strut into the room, pointing guns around and telling us not to move like it's a TV crime show. One of them keeps his gun trained on me when he sees the handgun that I'm holding.

"Looks like you know how to use more than explosives," he says.

"Don't hurt him," Dimitri says. "Please. He's a good person, I swear."

"The blood on his face exposes your life." The second cop points his gun at Dimitri. "And why do you care so much about this kid, anyway? You a faggot or something?"

Dimitri flinches. Then he starts to quiver.

"Aw, you got him all scared," the third one says. After a pause, "Maybe he _is _a faggot."

"Hey," the cop aiming at Dimitri says. "Arundel said he'd cover up for us, right? So we don't even need to be careful or anything."

"Right." The third one smirks. "If any of them look dangerous, feel free to bring justice down onto them."

I grit my teeth. I should have shot them through the door. Even if I kill the one pointing his gun at me, Dimitri's life is forfeit.

See, Byleth? Even if I ignored you I was doomed anyway. Can't do anything without someone like them or Lucina to protect me.

Lucina…

When I blink, I see the blood on the gravel.

No.

No!

And in that moment, I'm there again. On that day ten years ago.

#

It was a sunny day while I was walking around the outskirts of Seattle. The larger city loomed in the distance, and my only concern was wandering. Even at age seven, I knew I could find my way back home without a problem. After I killed a couple hours, I was certain that mom and dad would be done arguing.

I wandered into an area with overgrown grass and gravel paths. Looking back on it now, it seems like something the city was too lazy to control, so they tried to pass it off as a "natural" area. Having lived in a city of steel and skyscrapers my whole life, this was my first time seeing gravel. I wasn't sure if it was some sort of official path that only official people were supposed to walk on.

Sounds of talking grew closer behind me, and when I turned around I saw three people in police officer uniforms. I waved hello and smiled, just like my parents told me to when meeting new people.

"Hey, look at this kid," one of them says. "Awfully happy over there, aren't you?"

Looking back, I got a bad feeling even at this point. He was looking at me with the eyes and grin of a hyena stalking wounded prey. But grown-ups said weird things all the time, and thought everything that people in my grade did was strange or funny. I didn't think anything of it at the time.

"Um," I looked around.

"What are you doing?" the cop said. "There's nothing over here, you know."

"Walking."

The other cops laughed. Why did adults always do that?

"Not suspicious at all," the first one said. "What's in your bag?"

"Uh…" I looked over my shoulder at my backpack. "School notebooks."

"But it's summer right now, so you're not in school. Let's have a look."

The cop beckoned me and waited until I give him my backpack. The feeling in my stomach worsened, but in school they told me that cops were heroes. Besides, I got bad feelings from my parents sometimes and they loved me more than anyone. I handed my backpack to the officer.

He rifled through the backpack, tossing out a couple of notebooks. I grimaced when one of them hit the ground. This was during a phase where I was obsessed with pandas, and all of my panda drawings were in that notebook.

Then he pulled out the sandwich I bought from the street market, wrapped in butcher paper. He rotated it around in his hand, smiling.

"I knew it," he said. "Where did you get this, kid?"

"I bought it from the street fair," I say. "If you want one, I could show you where it is."

"You… bought it." The cop snorts.

"Um, what's so funny?"

"A kid as young as you buying this with your own money? I don't believe it." He tossed the sandwich on the ground. "That's something your parents buy for you, and I don't see them around. Which only means one thing."

"Hey, that's my lunch."

I went running for the sandwich, but a hand fell on my back and slammed me into the ground. My vision went red, and I cried out in pain.

"What an aggressive little kid you are," the cop said. "Guess they train 'em young."

"Give me back my sandwich. I don't have any more money for another one."

"Ah, you don't have money on you. That's convenient."

He shoved my head into the gravel again. I started wailing.

"Are you sure we need to go so hard on him?" one of the other cops said. "Like, I get that we need to protect the city from his kind, but he's just a kid."

"Just a kid? This is how it starts. Theft turns into robbery which turns into terrorism. They say all people are born innocent, but there's no working with people like him."

My memory gets fuzzy at this point. I'm not sure what happens to the sandwich or my notebooks, or how long I'm lying there. Eventually, the force on my back fades. I roll over and look up to see the police officer pointing a gun at me.

Even at this age, I knew what one was. Both of my parents had weapons training, and for all their flaws they did instill the dangers of firearms in me from a young age. The barrel of the gun was pointed at my face, and the cop let out a chuckle.

"Not so bratty now, huh?" he said. "Schools would go a lot more smoothly if we ran them."

With all the fear pent-up in my scrawny little body, I couldn't make any words come out.

"Nothing to defend yourself with?" he said. "Criminals are all the same."

"Listen," one of the other cops said. "I know you're having a bad day, but he is just a kid."

"'Just a kid' my ass. You know, none of the pesky civilians are watching us right now. I could take more permanent steps to protect this city without the banshee racket of people complaining and calling us murderers."

Before any of the others could stop him, he put his finger on the trigger.

"God's going to judge you for what you did today," he said. "Time to say goodbye."

"Wait-"

Before the other cop could finish, I heard a rustling noise from the tall grass. The next moment, the cop pointing his gun at me went down with a scream and a spray of red. I scrambled back two see the other two cops pointing their guns at someone with a mask covering their eyes. Mask person was carrying a sword that dripped with blood. A gunshot went off and took mask person in the arm in front of their chest. They rammed their sword into the second cop, and then the third. Both of them crumpled and went down without a sound.

Mask person sheathed their blade and turned their gaze to me. I did my best to scramble away, but with the amount that my legs were shaking I couldn't stand up. Mask person smiled as they approached me. They took off their mask to reveal deep blue eyes that looked trustworthy to a kid like me. In her left eye was a mark that from the distance looked like teardrop going into a bowl.

"It's okay," she said. "I'm here to protect you, I promise. What's your name? I'm Lucina."

"K-Khalid. Nice to… meet you."

"It's okay if you're scared, Khalid. Let's get away from those bad men."

She grabbed my hand, pulled me to my feet, and started leading me away. I stopped and glanced over my shoulder at the bodies of the three officers. Blood mixed with gravel. None of them were moving.

"They're…" I looked up at Lucina. "You…"

"It's easier if you don't look," she said. "Now, Khalid, let's get you out of here."

She continued pulling me away. I resisted the urge to suck my thumb, since my parents scolded me for that habit around other grown-ups.

"Now," she says. "We can talk more about this later, but for now I don't want you telling your name to anyone. More bad men will use it to track you down if you do. Eventually, we'll need to find you a new name."

I stared at the ground. I was taught to obey grown-ups, no matter how strange their requests were. I could think up a new name for Lucina. What were some cool names I learned at school? Well, when we were learning about famous artists I decided that I liked Monet's work, especially the "Woman in a parasol" painting.

"How about Claude?" I say.

"Not exactly an English American name, but it fits well enough. Nice to meet you, Claude."

I looked back down at the ground. "Nice to meet you too."

My parents made sure I was always the polite child, even after nearly being killed.

#

I blink back to the present. The only reason I'm here is because of Lucina's violence. I can't let these cops leave a trail behind in their wake. If I can kill bandits and Imperial soldiers in Fódlan, I should have no moral qualms about killing Thales' toadies over on Earth.

But I'm still in an impossible situation. Guns pointed at me and Dimitri. Even if I'm fast enough to take out one of the cops and kill before they get a chance to fire, the other will kill him or me. I take a deep breath. If it comes down to it, should I kill the cop threatening Dimitri and take my own bullet? If I do, the other two could kill everyone else in the room.

"Fire that bullet," Lysithea says. "I dare you."

"Oh, what do we have here?" The cop aiming at Dimitri pivots and points his gun at Lysithea. "I'd hate to kill a pretty little lady like you, so if you could behave…"

"Are you ready, Claude?" she says.

"Uh…"

Lysithea snaps her fingers and the gun floats out of his hand. No time to hesitate. I shoot the cop pointing his gun at me first. He gets a shot off at me simultaneously, but from where the bullet enters my chest I can tell that he misses my heart. I look over at the cop in the back, who's pulling out his own gun.

It's a shame, but there's nothing to be done about it. I put a bullet through his skull and then turn to the cop whose gun is floating out of reach. He grabs his baton and I take him down with a shot to the chest.

"If anyone asks, tell them the truth," I say. "I was the one who killed all of these people. The four of you did nothing. Ignatz, show them my gun safe and say that you had no idea I was storing firearms in there."

"Claude…" Dimitri stares at me, horrified. "You…"

"I'll kill again to protect you if I must."

"I'm sorry," Lysithea said. "I was desperate in the moment, and I didn't realize I was forcing you to forfeit your life. I was the one who forced your hand, so I will gladly take your place."

"No, thank you Lysithea. I was looking for an opening to take them out. And they'll find out that the guns were mine sooner or later, which will implicate me. All of you tell the authorities that I was the one who initiated it, okay?"

The four of them continue staring at me.

"Tell me you'll do it," I say.

A pause. Each of them nods, one after the other. Now I can get down to business. I check the pulse of the cops and none of them are alive. If they were, I'd have to kill them so that they don't implicate Lysithea, so it's a minor relief to me.

I head back over to my gun safe and begin assembling my assault rifle. The process is still second nature to me, and I'm done in no time. I load it with ammunition and go for the door.

"What are you doing?" Dimitri says.

"They're after me. You're not safe here. I'll check if the coast is clear, and then you all need to go to Dimitri's room."

"I'm not abandoning you," Dimitri says.

"It's okay. I'll be fine."

"Are you going to turn yourself in?" Ignatz says.

"Not sure yet. I'll figure that part out once you're safe. They know that this room is mine, so we can't stay here."

I open the door and peek outside. No cops in the hallway right now.

"Follow me. If you see any cops, hide behind me. I'll take them out."

"I can't believe this," Ignatz says. "Fighting against the police…"

"Move it, people," I say.

The others do as they're told. Guess commanding battalions and directing people in battle has its uses on Earth as well. I take them down the hall until we reach Dimitri's door and keep my eye on the door to the dorm hall. Dimitri holds the door open for Lysithea, Ignatz, and Ashe to enter. At the time he should be closing it, he clears his throat.

"Is this the last time we'll see each other, Claude?" Dimitri says.

"For a while. It won't be safe for me to be here in this country once it's known I protected us from cops. But I'll be back someday. I promise."

"Then I'll wait for you."

A pause. The door still hasn't shut.

"You're putting yourself in danger by staying out here, you know," I say.

"Claude…"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

I fight back the urge to cry. He deserves better than in love with someone like me who's going to abandon him.

"I love you too, Dimitri. I wish I could do more to prove it, but the feelings are there."

"I believe you. I'll see you later, Claude. Don't die on me, okay?"

"I won't. When I return, we can pick up right where we left off."

Finally, the door clicks shut behind me. I wait in the hallway for any more cops to show up, but as the minutes pass none of them do. I hear more commotion from further ahead, and I decide to see if I can help. I open the door out of the dorms inches at a time. When I'm certain the coast is clear, I move out.

I hear gunshots coming from the direction of the cafeteria and continue my approach. When I enter the dining hall, I see the security guards Catherine and Shamir using tables as shields to protect some students I don't recognize.

"You Americans and your guns," Shamir says to Catherine. Noticing me, "Ah, Claude. Didn't know you were packing an assault rifle."

She motions me closer, and I dive behind the table.

"These cops are crazy," Catherine says. "Principal Rhea told us not to fight them, but they've been shooting in the direction of students. I have half a mind to go over there and teach them a lesson."

"Great way to get indicted for murder," Shamir says. "Let's wait this one out."

Gunshots sound from further down. I hear Rhea let out another roar.

"I'm going to go help them," I say. "Stay put, all right?"

"Hey, wait a minute," Catherine says. "You're not in charge here. I'm not letting you go out and risk your life."

"Besides," Shamir says. "Kill a cop and have your life ruined."

"Too late to stop that," I say. "I've already killed three."

Shamir and Catherine stare at me.

"They were going to kill me and Dimitri. I bet I have better weapons training than you do. So I'm going to make sure Rhea stays safe and make sure all the murders pile up on me. I have nothing to lose."

"There's still a difference between a murderer and a mass murderer in the eyes of the law," Shamir says.

"Not planning on getting caught. See you later."

I look out from behind the table to make sure the coast is clear before bolting out. Catherine shouts at me to get back, but thankfully she doesn't pursue. I make my way further into the school, through the corridors and the main hall, to see dragon Rhea fighting with a group of cops out in the front courtyard. Their bullets bounce off her scales but leave dents. She's smaller than the Immaculate One from Fódlan, but large enough to wound cops she swipes with her claws. I see a couple bodies of cops that I'm guessing she killed.

Well, what's a little more blood on my hands?

I open fire on the cops through a window and take multiple out almost instantly. I have a better weapon than most of them do, and I also have better aim and cover. It takes them a few seconds to even see where the gunshots are coming from. Many of them begin to flee. If they're firing at the students, my guess is that they're planning to regroup and lead a second assault. I can't allow that to happen.

I aim first at the ones who fighting Rhea, but afterwards I do take out many of the ones who try to run and are too slow. A few smart ones take cover, but Rhea is able to deal with them while I clean up everyone else.

After we've dealt with the current situation. I run outside to look at Rhea's wounds. She's bleeding from a number of places, but I can't tell how badly she's hurt without understanding dragon anatomy more than I do.

"Why did you come?" she says.

I hear sizzling magic and jerk my head over to see Arundel forming a dark sphere of magic, same as when he first transported me to Fódlan. Where did he come from?

"Quite a pesky little fly you are," Arundel says. "Let's hope that second time is the charm."

He fires the magic blast at me. I roll to the side, but I'm not fast enough. I dodge the ball of darkness, but it explodes and I'm caught in the radius. I close my eyes in anticipation, and when I open them I'm standing in darkness. The world begins to reform around me.

But not the high school on Earth.

#

The scene around me comes into view, and I can see that I'm standing in front of Garreg Mach Monastery in Fódlan. The ground in front of me is still covered by corpses. It looks like the battle's over, but it hasn't been for long. I mutter a curse under my breath and dart into the nearby woods. If Edelgard won and the Imperial soldiers find me, I'll be taken hostage at best and killed at worst.

I'm not done making sure my friends are safe. I grip on my Falchion pendant and begin the process of travelling back to Earth.

A minute. Two minutes. Five minutes.

Nothing.

My heart drops. Lucina said that the charm's protective properties were undone by Thales' dark magic the first time, so really it's a miracle that I'm still alive. It looks like instead of simply killing me, the second blast of magic undid the altered aspect of the charm that let me travel between Earth and Fódlan. I'm not sure how that happened, but I suppose I should be grateful that I'm breathing.

The bad news is that I'm stuck here, in the middle of a raging war, with no way to help my friends back on Earth.

**End of Part 1**

* * *

**Hope everyone's doing well as always. :) **

**One part of Claude that surprised me in chapter is how ruthless he can be (killing fleeing enemies, ect.). That part of him isn't focused on as much in the game, but he does do stuff like keep Deridru occupied with civilains in Crimson Flower despite criticizing Edelgard for not evacuating Enbarr in Verdant Wind. **

**In case the end of the chapter wasn't clear, this is going to be the last realworld chapter for a while. The plan is to release a bunch of short interludes from the perspective of various other characters during the timeskip before Byleth reawakens and then get back into the swing of things. **

**References:**

-Sharia Law: Muslim religious law that still exists today in some Muslim-majority countries. Under this system, laws are (in theory) created from the Quran (Muslim holy text), and when the Quran doesn't speak on a topic the law is based on what the Prophet Muhammad said during his life (Hadith). Often used as a rallying cry by Islamophobes to discredit Muslim-majority countries or Islam as a whole.

-72 Virgins: Another Islamophobe favorite. This is based off a supposed Islamic principle that religious martyrs will receive 72 virgins as a reward in heaven. Many scholars have contested whether or not "virgin" is translated properly (it could also mean "raisins"), and some accounts of the Prophet Muhammad talking about this concept come from dubious sources. That hasn't stopped people from using it as to say that Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East are sexist, which governments use as an excuse to invade those countries and take their oil.

-Arundel/Thales: Arundel is never directly confirmed to the Thales, but the circumstantial evidence is pretty convincing. The two are even played by the same voice actor.

-Marianne's suicide: It's implied that when Marianne isn't in Byleth's class, she ends up taking her own life during the timeskip.


	17. Interlude: Cornelia

**Imperial Year 1181** (One year after the events in part 1)

Cornelia's plan was devilishly genius, if she dared say so herself.

Of course, she had the advantage of foresight, since she knew what Edelgard was planning long before the girl played general and invaded Garreg Mach with her army. During that time, she spread rumors about Prince Dimitri. That beneath his smile he was wild with rage, he was still haunted by the Tragedy of Duscur when his parents were assassinated. Simultaneously, she spread rumors about Dimitri's uncle Rufus being involved in the death of the old king and queen in an attempt to gain power for himself. Of course, under this line of reasoning he failed at killing Dimitri and taking the throne for himself, but was too nervous to try again.

Funnily enough, the rumors about Dimitri were even true, even if the ones about Rufus were a complete lie. Still, it was plausible enough that when Dimitri returned to the Kingdom after Edelgard invaded Garreg Mach, it was too easy to set her plan into motion.

All she needed to do was combine the two rumors and give the situation a little… shove. Cornelia had Rufus assassinated, which was disappointingly easy. The Kingdom nobles talked a big game about protecting the weak and standing strong in the name of chivalry, but they went down like anyone else. It was easy to get some grunts to kill him in a gruesome way that made it look like Dimitri took revenge on his uncle.

Then the pieces fell into place on their own. The story was too delectable to be ignored. The rage-ridden prince taking revenge for his parents by going after their killers, but listening to the wrong people and killing his innocent uncle in the process. What a heart-throbbing tragedy that befell the kingdom.

Cornelia smirked to herself, swirling a wine glass while she stared outside her window at the snow piling up in Fhirdiad from her room. She was about to show Faerghus a _real _tragedy. Prince Dimitri was currently resting behind bars, awaiting execution at her leisure. She wondered if the frostbite would get him before the noose wrapped around his neck. And now she was the regent of Faerghus with nobody left to challenge her. An entire kingdom, at her control. Cornelia took a sip of wine. Thales had better get on his knees thanking her for this.

A knock on the door.

"I am busy, worm. Do not disturb me."

"And I am not someone you may speak that way to."

The door opened, though Cornelia was sure she had locked it. Thales stepped inside, wearing the skin of that Empire noble Arundel. He took a seat in one of Cornelia's cushioned chairs without asking.

"Ah, Thales. I was finalizing plans to have Prince Dimitri executed. I've never gotten to kill a crown prince before, so excuse me if I'm jittery with excitement."

"Of course. As always, my advice is to keep your eye on the prize."

Did he think her some doddering, wishy-washy fool who was only capable of keeping one task in mind at a given time? Cornelia inhaled, but let the comment slide.

"So what brings you here?" she said. "I don't imagine it was the great weather we're having."

"The snowstorms will make it difficult to initiate our mining operations. But killing off workers may be advantageous to our cause, regardless of if it gets us more ore to refine into Agarthum."

Oh? Thales was the one who advocated for a longer-term plan for ruling Faerghus instead of Cornelia taking all of its resources before watching the Kingdom fall to ruin.

"I can tell that you are curious," Thales said. "The unfortunate truth is that we must turn on Edelgard soon, before she backstabs us."

"Already? That girl must be confident about her ability to take the Kingdom and the Alliance if she plans on disposing of us now."

"It was a deal that she made with that professor. If they worked with her and let us take Garreg Mach, she promised to turn on us after the monastery fell."

"And she's planning on keeping her word even though that professor went missing? How idiotic can a young girl be?"

"She is quite… fond of Byleth." The corners of Thales' mouth twitched upwards. "And I can almost see why. They are quite an enigma. Able to use the Sword of the Creator without the crest stone. They escaped the darkness of Zaharas that Solon banished them to, and changed appearance to look more like a Nabatean."

"You don't think…"

"No, they aren't a Nabatean. We made sure to account for all of them. Besides the few running around in beast form, Seiros, Cichol, and Cethleann are the ones remaining."

"And the latter two cannot assume their bestial forms, yes?"

Thales nodded. "Seiros is the last barrier in our way. It was apparently the professor's plan to ensure that their squadron of Imperial forces captured her rather than letting us drag her away."

"What a thorn in our side. But do you know why they bear the Crest of Flames and can wield the Sword of the Creator without its crest stone?"

"I believe that we need to flip our thinking. The question is not 'why can Byleth use the blade without its crest stone' but rather 'where is Sothis' crest stone?'"

Cornelia gasped. "Seiros, you sly dog. I never knew you could sink so low."

"I see you understand. Byleth is Seiros' latest weapon against us, and more of a threat than she could pose alone."

"So then we must rely on our original plan to use Edelgard as the vessel. Unless you have found someone else who bears the Crest of Flames?"

"Remember that is a contingency, Cornelia. If all goes well we'll never have to bring him back. He became a pain to direct and manipulate."

"Of course, of course." She swirled her wine glass. "We need to focus on what to do with Edelgard before then."

"We take the Kingdom's resources, to start," Thales said. "It will make us harder to invade, since Edelgard will need to stretch her supply lines from the Empire to the Kingdom instead of relying on food that she can pillage. And when she does conquer it, she will find herself sitting atop a throne of ruin in Fhirdiad."

"Ah, clever." Cornelia rubbed her chin. "Break the Kingdom down to the point it's not even worth conquering."

"She will try anyway, but the effort will leave her weak. The march through the cold will be brutal in any season other than summer, so all we need to do when she does invade is hold off until winter and wait for her army to freeze to death."

"Excellent." Cornelia looked over at the stack of papers on her desk. "I will expedite the mining operations and increase taxes on local farmers. There will be resistance at first, but once I crush them they won't have time to worry about anything other than appeasing us."

"Good. Once we have what we need, we should make preparations to slink back into the shadows at a moment's notice. We are still at a disadvantage when it comes to open warfare, and I only plan on using our nuclear arsenal as a last resort. Let me know if you stumble on any more pockets of uranium."

"Of course. This is going to be the most fun I've had in years, Thales."

Another knock on her door.

"Ugh, what is it with people today?" Cornelia said. "I am busy. Is my message system a joke to you?"

"My apologies, Regent Cornelia. But the matter is urgent."

Thales raised an eyebrow. "Better to hear what she says, don't you think?"

Cornelia sighed. "Enter."

The door opened and a young soldier entered, bowing to Cornelia. It was always nice seeing them show proper respect.

"Unfortunately, I have bad news to report," the soldier said. "Regent Cornelia, I inform you that Prince Dimitri has gone missing."

Cornelia froze. "What do you mean 'missing?'"

"My apologies, Regent Cornelia." Another bow. "It appears that he escaped prison with the help of a young man from Duscur, who took his place in prison. He covered himself in blankets so we couldn't immediately tell that it wasn't Dimitri."

"Are all prisons in Faerghus so incompetent? Bring me the prison warden. I'd like to have a few choice words with her."

"Yes, Regent Cornelia. Right away."

The soldier looked relieved as she walked away and closed the door. Cornelia let out a growl and threw her wine glass on the floor. Thales let out a sigh as it shattered on the ground.

"Are the theatrics necessary?" he says. "Though this does put a minor hitch in our plans."

"A _minor _hitch? I want that boy's head, and I want it now."

"You sound like a child. What shall we tell the public?"

"We can't let them know that Dimitri has escaped," Cornelia said. "We'll replace the prison warden and the staff. Might have to kill that soldier too so that she doesn't blab."

"You are not confident that everyone else sees Dimitri as a criminal?"

"The insufferable Eastern Kingdom nobles are bound by their traditions. They may look for excuses to continue to support their prince and say that the accusations against him were fabricated."

Which they were. It was all the more appalling that their stupidity would lead them to the truth.

"I agree," Thales said. "From this day forward, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd is legally dead. And I will have my people looking out for him to ensure that he matches that status."

Thales cut off the conversation and exited Cornelia's room without giving her a chance to respond. What an annoying man.

And what a ludicrous turn of events. After doing the work and agonizing over each detail of her plan, sheer dumb luck allowed Dimitri to escape.

Cornelia took a deep breath. The universe seemed bent on slighting her, but she was stronger and more deserving of power than anyone. If she continued to persist, there was no question that her fortune was going to reverse.

Now, what to do about that man from Duscur. Killing him was the straightforward options, but there were some fates worse than death.

Cornelia let herself smile. She knew exactly what to do.

* * *

**Here's the first interlude. And here is our first departure from Crimson Flower. It never made a ton of sense to me why Edelgard's victory at Garreg Mach is more decisive in routes where she doesn't have Byleth than in the route where she does have Byleth. Doesn't matter, since I prefer to tell a story with Azure-Moon-style Dimitri, so Cornelia's going to do her thing. **


	18. Interlude: Catherine

**Imperial Year 1183 **(Three years after the events of Part 1)

After some deliberation and several bites, Catherine of the Knights of Seiros decided that cooked bear meat tasted like chicken. It was a common saying, of course, but Catherine was realizing that it was a stereotype because it was true.

Fresh meat was a good change of pace from whatever they could find wandering around searching for Lady Rhea, especially when shared around a campfire like this. Three long years and they had come up with nothing. Every time Catherine thought about it she got the itch to take up her sword and start practicing. If she had only been stronger…

That damned professor. If Catherine had seen them for the threat they were instead of a brilliant swordsperson, perhaps they wouldn't be in this situation right now. Why did Lady Rhea place so much trust in Byleth? To this day, Catherine had no idea.

Well, not quite _no _idea. Catherine heard the reports of them cutting out of another dimension that the librarian Tomas stuck them in (hearing that phrase four years ago would have made her wonder who went mad), and Lady Rhea seemed to know something about its causes. At the time, despite Catherine's jealousy for the professor, she was happy that they were able to put Lady Rhea in a good mood.

So Byleth had some sort of powers that Rhea knew about. But instead of using those powers to help the realm, the professor turned to conquest. It was a slap in the face to all the knights who worked with them, and to Lady Rhea who gave her a prestigious job with no credentials.

Whenever Catherine got angry about Byleth's betrayal, she reminded herself that the professor was most likely rotting by a streamside somewhere while Catherine couldn't be more alive. Catherine took a chomp out of her current piece of meat. Delicious. The rest of the Knights of Seiros seemed to be in high spirits as well, despite the lack of progress they made in the last three years.

"What did I tell you about setting up proper sentries before sitting down to eat?" came a voice from behind her.

Catherine leapt to her feet and had her hand on her sword hilt, spinning around to come face to face with Shamir.

"You startled me there," Catherine said. "A warning next time, please?"

"Our enemies won't give you that benefit. Install better sentries if you want to know when I approach." Shamir frowned at the bonfire. "Bear meat? Is that a Fódlan staple I was unaware of?"

"Nope. Tastes like chicken, though. Want some?"

"After I'm done delivering my report. I think I know where Rhea is."

All around the fire, voices went quiet. This was it. After so many years of wandering Fódlan, they were finally going to set Lady Rhea free.

"Well, don't keep us in suspense," Catherine said.

"She's being held in the Imperial capital Enbarr," Shamir says. "Spies inside the Empire confirmed it. I was tipped off to the possibility by Judith of house Daphnel."

An Alliance lord. Most of them were wishy-washy at best, and those scheming Golden Deer students had formed a pact to cut off support to the church after Marianne died. Many of their parents were happy to follow along, and the Knights of Seiros lacked resources as a consequence. It was a shame that a student died during Edelgard's invasion, but it was an honest mistake. Refusing to assist the Knights of Seiros was jeapordizing the entire realm.

But no matter. Information was information, and perhaps the Daphnel family had more honor due to their connection with the offshoot Galatea family in the Kingdom. House Galatea was one of the few families in Faerghus still resisting regent Cornelia's rule, with their troops spearheaded by Ingrid. Catherine wondered how she was doing. Not like Catherine could visit the Kingdom anytime soon, since without the protection of the Church of Seiros there was nothing stopping the people looking to cash in on the bounty on her head.

"So this is perfect," Catherine said. "We bash our way into the Empire and break Lady Rhea out."

"You're so predictable," Shamir said. "We can't invade Enbarr on our own, Catherine. We'll need a plan that requires more discretion. And likely, we'll need to wait until reserve forces in Enbarr get drawn out to the front lines so they can't collapse on us after we escape with Rhea."

"So a stealth mission? That's less fun."

But even Catherine had to admit that _maybe _the Empire had them outnumbered to the point where a head-on invasion might be a problem.

"Leave the plan to me," Shamir said. "And then after that, my debt to Rhea is repaid."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you listen when I talk, Catherine? I owe Rhea a debt, same as you. But after we rescue her, we're done. Where do I go next…? Back to Dagda, maybe. Though there's not much of a home left for me."

"Back to Dagda? Are you listening to what you're saying? We need you here to help us stop the Empire, Shamir."

Shamir smirked. "I knew you were going to say that. But I'm not beholden to Rhea, or to you. Why should I stay?"

"Aw, come on. Even if you want to play the tough girl and say that you don't respect Lady Rhea's authority, I know you love me too much to leave."

"Hmm." Shamir cocked her head. "Perhaps."

Catherine blinked. Did she hear Shamir correctly?

"You look surprised," Shamir said. "But there's no point in denying it. I am quite fond of you, insufferable as you may be."

"I was joking, Shamir."

"Were you?"

Well… it was difficult to replace someone who fought through life or death situations by her side. She had convinced herself that her feelings for Shamir were professional, but maybe that was because she lacked the time to consider romance at all.

"It's okay, Catherine," Shamir said. "I know you only have eyes for Rhea."

"What? Lady Rhea is like a mother to me. You're…"

Shamir looked around the fire at the other knights. "We can continue this conversation later, Catherine. Now, let us work out the basics of our timeline for rescuing Lady Rhea."

Shamir went on to talk with the knights. Catherine tuned most of it out, because ew, a stealth mission, but the entire time she focused on Shamir's figure through the flickering flame as Shamir circled around the campfire.

Lady Rhea had asked her about finding love at some point. When Catherine said that she wasn't interested in any men, Lady Rhea responded that there was more to this world than men.

Catherine was starting to understand what she meant.

* * *

**Guess I ship Catherine and Shamir now. Honestly I think Catherine is a super interesting character that flies under the radar a bit because she's not a student (so as a result her supports with Byleth aren't that good since Byleth isn't playing school therapist, meaning you need to see a lot more supports to get a good feel for her) and because she stans Rhea. But her backstory is really well fleshed-out and she's not as one-dimensional as she first seems. It's a pity that I can't give her a super major role in this fic, but this story is already kinda getting out of hand for me. **


	19. Interlude: Annette

**Imperial Year 1184 **(4 years after the events of part 1)

Giving lectures was the favorite part of Annette's day because of how it distracted her from how the culmination of her life's work was failure. Otherwise, being in the Royal School of Sorcery as a teacher reminded her of all the hours she spent achieving top marks to get her into Garreg Mach, all so that she could meet her father again after he abandoned her and her mother years ago.

And she did it. She graduated top of her class and enrolled in the Officers Academy with Mercedes. She found her father there, working as a Knight of Serios. She remembered going to bed the first day after she glimpsed him, lying awake thinking of all the stories she could tell him about the last several years of her life. He always pushed her to excel, so she thought about showing him her new magic skills and telling him about all she learned at the Royal School of Sorcery in Fhirdiad.

But it didn't matter what she said to him. Because during the entire year at Garreg Mach, Annette's father did not speak a single word to her.

Here while she was teaching in front of class, she could relegate thoughts to the back of her mind. Her desire to keep busy was useful in giving her the opportunity to get to know her students better. Many students stayed after class to continue practicing magic, and Annette was sometimes with them until sundown.

Today, though, she was walking through the aisles during her lecture on wind magic, watching students try to create their own gusts of air. A boy named Gustave was one of her most dedicated students who worked himself to exhaustion just to keep up with the others due to his lack of natural skill at magic, and she stopped by his seat to see him struggling. She corrected his hand motions and he was able to make a puff of air after a few tries. His face lit up.

"Thank you, Professor Dominic."

Then he gave her a quick bow from his seat, which Annette never knew how to respond to. At least she had experienced enough her cheeks didn't redden anymore.

"Glad I could help," Annette said.

She made sure to smile back at him. She couldn't bring herself to say his name out loud, not after what her father had done to her, so it was the least she could do. Annette checked on other students until they all had it down.

Then as she resumed her lecture, a figure in a black cloak stepped in from the back doors.

Annette wasn't going to interrupt lecture to ask the person what their deal was, so she continued, making occasional mistakes as she glanced back at the cloaked figure. They leaned on the back wall, unmoving. None of the students called attention to them, so Annette kept going until class was over. The cloaked figure remained while Annette dismissed her students.

After the last one funneled out the door, the mystery person descended the steps of the lecture hall. Annette kept her eyes on them while they reached the bottom and stepped onto the stage.

"Is there something you'd like to say to me?" Annette asked.

The person flipped back their hood. Ingrid.

"Long time no see," Ingrid said.

"Where have you-" stupid question. "Aren't you with the resistance now? If Cornelia's soldiers find you here…"

"I'm not scared of them. I'm here to reminisce with an old friend, Annette. Care to indulge me?"

Her voice sounded even more serious and measured than when Annette knew her back at the Officers Academy. Annette bet she was hiding a weapon somewhere on her body as well.

"Well, okay," Annette said. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Nobody can hear us here, right?" Ingrid glanced around at the room.

"We should be safe. I have to shout for the people in the back to hear me."

"We found Dimitri."

Annette blinked. "His Highness has been alive all this time?"

Ingrid dropped eye contact. "Apparently. He's… changed, though."

"How so?"

"If you come with me, you'll see yourself. He's planning to invade the Empire."

When he didn't even have control over his own territory? Annette was no tactician, but even she could see how hopeless of a cause that plan was.

"All of our other friends agreed to help him," Ingrid said. "Well, we still need to ask Ashe, and Dedue's out."

Annette frowned. "But I thought Dedue was devoted to Dimitri."

"Devoted enough to sacrifice his life. It… appears I was wrong about him."

Oh, right. Ingrid didn't like Dedue because he was from Duscur, and his people killed the man she was supposed to marry. Annette always thought it was odd to blame someone for the crimes that others committed. She should have said something to him.

"You're certain?" Annette said.

"Dimitri said that Dedue took his place when he was to be executed. None of us have seen his body, but there's no way he could have escaped after Dimitri took the one route out of there."

Dedue… why had Annette only talked to him about stupid things like cooking?

"The point is that Dimitri needs you," Ingrid said. "You're the only person in our class who excels in reason magic. Our troops will need magic cover fire against armored enemies archers can't break through."

Annette turned away. "I can't."

"I understand you have a life here. But-"

"I hate this life. But I owe it to my mom."

Ingrid sighed. "Family against country. Always a tough choice. Which is a good reason why I didn't come here on my own."

Ingrid whistled, and another person emerged at the top of the lecture hall. It took Annette a few seconds to recognize them.

"Mercie."

"Hello, Annie." Mercedes descended the steps. "I wanted to say sorry for that fight we had back at the monastery. I know you were trying to protect me against that man."

Oh, right. The person who tried to rob them since they were a pair of defenseless-looking noblewomen. Annette tried to challenge the man in order to defend Mercedes, who got angry at Annette for risking her own life.

That was the last extended conversation they had with each other before Garreg Mach came crumbling down before their eyes.

"It's okay, Mercie. I'm just happy to see you again."

"And I'm happy to see you too, Annie. It's been so long. I wish we had more time to share stories."

"You can at least tell me where you've been," Annette said. "I tried to get into contact with you after the war started, but I couldn't find you."

"I… couldn't stand it in Fhirdiad anymore," Mercedes said. "I feel what the people around me are feeling, and there was no hope there. So I went to east Faerghus where the resistance is and acted as a healer for their forces."

"So that's how you knew about Dimitri."

"Felix, Sylvain, and I were the first ones to find out," Mercedes said. "Ingrid's family couldn't provide military forces, but she was happy to join us."

"And I'm next, huh?" Annette looked away. "I'm sorry, Mercie. I really am. But I can't leave Fhirdiad. The war is hard on my mother, and me being a professor is the only way she stays afloat. I barely talked to her at all when we were in school together since I was so busy. I can't abandon her like my father did."

"Annie… Why are you so sad?"

Annette opened her mouth to deny the accusation, and then thought better of it. An empath like Mercedes could stare into her soul.

"All this work, all this power," Annette snapped and a flame leapt off her finger. "And all I can do with it is scrape by. I worked so hard to meet him, but he…"

"It's okay, Annie. I'll always be your friend, no matter what happens."

"But I'm leaving you too. And if I stay by your side, I'm either abandoning my mother or dragging her into a war."

"Not to interrupt his heartfelt moment," Ingrid said, "But my family is happy to make accommodations for your mother if you decide to join us, and I'm sure Felix and Sylvain's families would extend the same offer. She'll be safe with a full legion of Fraldarius and Gautier soldiers protecting her."

"I still can't. She'll be alone, and if I go out there and die, she'll…"

Annette buried her face in her hands. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. All her life, her parents said that she could do anything she put her mind to if she worked hard enough. But here she was, having no hope of reconnecting with her father and about to lose her best friend.

"Please don't go, Mercie," Annette said. "You can't take Enbarr. The Empire is going to crush you."

"Things might look dire," Ingrid said, "But we have a duty to our true king. Mercedes isn't a Faerghus knight, but she still understands that."

And Annette didn't, she was implying.

"I have to help Dimitri," Mercedes said. "Nobody else can feel his pain like I do. I'll try to talk some sense into him, Annie. And when I return to Fhirdiad, we can visit that Fódlan-famous sweets shop again."

"You have to promise me that you'll come back, Mercie."

A moment of hesitation. "I promise, Annie. No matter what, I'll be back for you."

Annette knew Mercedes well enough to tell when she was lying. And of course it was unfair to ask a soldier to survive a war. Annette fought back tears. Why did the world have to be so cold?

"All right," Annette said. "You can go now, Mercie."

Mercedes nodded and turned away. Ingrid followed behind. After taking a few steps, Mercedes looked back over her shoulder.

"Before I go, I wanted to say that the years I spent being friends with you were my best ones," she said.

Annette bit her lip. It was the same for her. All this time she thought that she was working towards meeting her father again, but of course her father didn't want to see her. If he cared at all, he wouldn't have abandoned her as a child.

But Mercedes… she was there for Annette. Always.

"I'm not done being your friend, okay?" Annette said. "We're both going to live through this. We have to."

"I'll offer up my prayers to the goddess," Mercedes said. "May she watch over us both."

There was nothing else for Annette to say. She watched Mercedes and Ingrid leave the lecture hall, hoping that the words Mercedes spoke were not the last Annette would hear.

* * *

**Fun fact about Annette is that in routes where you don't recruit her she never shows up outside of Fhirdiad. In Verdant Wind when the rest of the Blue Lions are at Gronder she just... sits it out. So I tried to justify why here.**


	20. Interlude: Hubert

**Imperial year 1185 **(5 years after the events of part 1)

Hubert von Vestra was about desperate enough to consider the letter in his hands instead of crumpling it up and tossing it aside. Within its contents was a call from Edelgard's uncle Arundel to negotiate. He received a similar letter a few years back when the war was new and laughed it off at the time. The Empire had the greatest military might in Fódlan, and their victory was absolute. Throwing the Alliance into chaos and marching into the Kingdom to capture Fhirdiad was nothing short of trivial.

Or at least, that's how it was supposed to be. But Hubert had been imagining Duke Oswald von Riegan leading the alliance, and Hubert spent months devising a plan to exploit the duke's numerous weaknesses as a leader. Instead, Oswald perished due to illness, and his grandson Claude von Riegan became the leader of the Alliance.

At first, Hubert rejoiced. A mere child as the leader of the Alliance should have been easy to manipulate, assassinate, intimidate, or bribe. But Claude managed to keep the Alliance unified despite Hubert's attempts to the contrary. It was absolutely maddening. He _knew _that each of the Alliance lords had their own agenda and were ready to turn on each other at a moment's notice, but whenever they pushed the issue they receded back into their supposedly unified central government. Yet Hubert couldn't be mad at Claude for protecting his homeland. Hubert's own skills were to blame. His father drilled into him that a Vestra must be perfect in every way.

Which led him to the letter. Invading the Alliance was a risky proposition without a superb general like Byleth had been, and if Emperor Edelgard invaded the kingdom first then Hubert was sure Claude could strike at their supply lines and cause havoc by skirmishing with squadrons of wyvern warriors. The reports of him fighting off bandits and subduing rebellious minor houses reminded Hubert of Almyran tactics: multiple waves of hit-and-run that overwhelmed the enemy and didn't give them a chance to respond. Aerial combat was an advantage that Almyra had over Fódlan, and playing the long game with Claude and letting him partake in minor skirmishes was not an option.

So invading the Alliance was risky, and invading the Kingdom was impossible with Claude nipping at the Empire's heels. Which meant it might be time to join forces with Those who Slither in the Dark and formulate an attack on the Leicester Alliance together, depending on what their terms were.

Hubert knocked on Emperor Edelgard's door. He had urged her to set up a message system, but she often preferred to talk with him directly. He found it to be less efficient but it did allow her to ask clarifying questions. Though for the most part Hubert made his reports as thorough as possible.

"Who is it?" the sing-song voice was not Edelgard's.

"Dorothea? What are you doing talking to Her Majesty?"

"Oh, Hubie. Why don't you join us?"

Dorothea opened the door and gestured for Hubert to enter. She dragged over a third chair for him. Sitting in one of the chairs was Edelgard in her full Imperial armor. She nodded at him as he entered.

"I hope that this doesn't take long enough to justify me taking a seat," Hubert said, "But if you insist…"

"Yes, join us," Edelgard said. "I swear, you're too serious sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Dorothea snorted. "Talk about the understatement of the century."

"If someone can tell me what humor does for our army and our people, I might consider it," Hubert said. "A letter for you, Your Majesty."

"What did I say about you going through my mail, Hubert?"

Edelgard accepted the letter and started to read.

"Oh, that reminds me," Dorothea said. "Will you join us in returning to Garreg Mach next week, Hubie?"

"What is possessing you to go back to that crumbling old monastery?"

"Don't you remember? We all promised we'd meet back there for the Millennium Festival five years ago. It was Edie's idea."

"You're aware that the Millennium Festival isn't happening with the war going on, right?"

"Of course I know that, Hubie. But a promise is a promise. And Byleth said they were going to meet us there, remember?"

"They're dead."

"I wish you'd stop saying that," Edelgard replied, still reading Thales's letter. "Or did you happen to find their body and not tell me?"

"I confess I did not. But to assume that they are alive is pure foolishness."

"Well, then Edie and I are the queens of foolery," Dorothea said "As are the rest of our class. You didn't believe us when we waited for them to emerge from that nightmare world Solon put them in, and out they came."

"If it had taken them five years that time, maybe I'd expect them to show up at the Millennium Festival. But alas, proposing that Byleth will meet us on that precise day is illogical."

"But we're still going," Dorothea said. "Right, Edie?"

"There may be a change of plans in order," Edelgard said. "Dorothea, you and the others should go to the monastery. Bring your battalions and be careful, since there could be thieves in the area."

"You're not coming?"

"I'll try to make it that day. But I need to meet my uncle on the Empire-Kingdom border."

"Have you forgotten your promise to our professor, Edie?"

"You will not speak to the Emperor that way," Hubert said. "And like I mentioned, Byleth is dead. There is no reason to bind ourselves to the promises we made. Negotiating with Arundel might be the best way to break the stalemate of the war. Think of how many lives we could save by ending this conflict quickly."

"Don't worry, Dorothea," Edelgard said. "I haven't forgotten my promise. But it can't hurt to hear what my uncle has to say. Hubert, will you join me?"

"It would be my pleasure, your Majesty."

Hubert had to believe that this conflict was going to end and that he could finish what his father never had the courage to start. His father mewled about strength, perfection, and serving the Empire, but that myth came crashing down when Hubert discovered that his father was conspiring against the emperor. Hubert didn't bother to attend most of the executions he set up for traitors to the Empire, but he did go to his father's and heard his last words. He couldn't even remember what his father said to him, but he did recall the man who always told him to be strong as a child reduced to a pathetic, blubbering mess.

In the end, Hubert's father Marquis von Vestra was a traitor, a fool, and a weakling. Hubert couldn't count on anyone to lead Lady Edelgard to victory other than himself, not even the seemingly invincible Byleth.

Hubert closed his eyes and imagined the world after Emperor Edelgard won the war. Not only could commoners like Dorothea have a chance to rise to positions where they could cause real change, but it also allowed Hubert to expand his espionage initiatives without relying on antiquated systems and customs. And with Adrestian dominion over all of Fódlan, there could be no secret that escaped from his ear. The church had been incompetent at finding and rooting out Those Who Slither in the Dark because their information systems were faulty to a core. Hubert could quell insurrections before they started and root out venomous groups like Those Who Slither in the Dark no matter where they hid. He could even watch the movement of the Almyrans to shut down another war between continents before it could claim any lives.

Only in Emperor Edelgard's world could Fódlan know true peace.

* * *

**Phew, and that's the last of the interludes. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled Claude PoV starting next chapter. **

**It was pretty natural to imagine Hubert as a "for the greater good" kinda person. And hey, he's right that assassinating important people causes a lot less death than a prolonged war. **

**Hope y'all have a great day! :)**


	21. Chapter 16: Reunion at Dawn

**Part 2: Crimson Wind**

**Imperial Year 1185 **(5 years after the events of Part 1)

My job as Alliance leader is a headache and a half, but at least it gives me the opportunity to soar through the sky like a bird. The wind whips past my face as I hold onto my wyvern's reins. I should have known that I loved being up in the sky this much after Lucina took me to an amusement park once and I kept going on the rides where I got flung around through the air.

I try not to think about how I'll never be able to see her again.

Instead, I focus on my actual job, which is scouting the Empire's movements. Through the skies I can slip into their territory unnoticed, and right now I'm deep past enemy lines. My father's friend Nader and his wyvern squadron from Almyra are helping me keep tabs on the border while I do reconnaissance further in. I need the practice, and the Empire's air force is essentially nonexistent. We could conduct raids if we wanted to, but I'm not about to bring Edelgard's wrath down on us if we can help it. Better to hold our wyvern squadrons over her head as a threat, knowing that we'll make her bleed every step of the way if she goes after us or the Kingdom.

"All right, Omar," I say to my wyvern. "Let's see what's going on below."

I pull down on the reins, and he takes a nosedive. The free-fall is my favorite part of flying, and it's not because of the adrenaline. When I'm diving through the air, I feel peaceful. All I can focus on is me, the land, and the sky. I need more of those moments in my life. I yank up at the reins when I can see the ground clearly and have Omar maintain a steady glide.

Today's mission is going to be special because I'm surveying the territory where Garreg Mach is.

When I see a large bandit camp in some old ruins, I wonder if I'm in the wrong place. But there's no reason to think that this place should be safe from crime now that the Knights of Seiros are out searching for Rhea. If the Empire abandoned the area, it's far enough from both Enbarr and the front lines that it's the perfect place for thieves to hide from the authorities.

And then I see the monastery. After the battle five years ago when I was teleported back to Fódlan, I didn't pay attention to what the monastery looked like since I was trying to evade Imperial forces on my way to Deridru in the Alliance while I was wounded and exhausted. But I can't imagine that it was this bad when the battle finished. Parts of the walls and even the building have crumbled, making Garreg Mach look like century-old ruins rather than what had been Fódlan's central building five years ago.

Marianne… I'm sorry I couldn't save you.

An idea enters my mind. It's a stupid, terrible thought, but I can't deny that I'm curious. Besides, today's supposed to be the Millennium Festival. I don't see anyone celebrating, but maybe there are people I can help at the monastery itself who are trying to find a ray of light in this dark world. Besides, with Omar at my side I can make a getaway anytime I need to.

I circle around the monastery a few times to make sure there are no Imperial soldiers patrolling before landing at the front steps.

"You know what to do, buddy," I say as I hop off Omar. "Raise a racket if you see anything suspicious."

I look into his large, reptilian eye and pat him on the snout. I like to think that he understands the gist of what I'm saying, even if he can't speak our language.

"Good boy," I say. "Remind me to give you extra treats when we get back."

I ascend the steps of Garreg Mach using the stealth movements my parents taught me so many years ago. I can't hear myself walking, which is a good sign. It's difficult to dodge all the rubble, but I manage to make my way to the monastery entrance.

And inside, light shines through a hole in the ceiling and illuminates a lone person. It's the last person I expected to see, but in a way I'm not surprised to find them here now.

I draw my bow and take a shot at Byleth.

Divine Pulse. The world goes grey and rewinds to when I'm halfway up the stairs. Shit. All I've done is alerted Byleth and the Empire to my scouting patterns.

"Long time no see, Claude." Byleth emerges at the top of the stairs. "Figures that the first student I meet after I took that fall was you."

I have my hand on my bow, but Byleth makes no move to draw their Sword of the Creator.

"What were you doing all this time?" I say.

"Sleeping."

I snort. "Are you expecting anyone to buy that?"

"You've seen weirder from me, haven't you?"

They have a point. Being in a coma for five years is less odd than having the powers of the goddess awaken to cut out of an alternate dimension.

"I'm glad to see that you're still alive," Byleth says.

"Even after you killed Marianne?"

"I…" They look away. "I couldn't risk it. I wasn't going to make it in time unless I rewinded to soon after the fight started and beelined for her. Which could change the battle enough that another student might be in danger."

"'Could' this, 'might' that," I say. "Bullshit. You let her die. You could have saved her and you chose not to."

"I suppose you're right. This responsibility on my shoulders isn't one I asked for. Even with Sothis' powers, I can only use Divine Pulse so often. Which means I can't save everyone. How am I supposed to choose, Claude?"

"The way to avoid this situation is by not starting a continent-wide war."

"Edelgard was bent on declaring war from the moment she set foot on Garreg Mach. It became a question not of whether to start a conflict, but which side to pick. Do I go with the side upholding institutional oppression, or the side challenging it?"

"You go with the side that doesn't conquer, destroy, and subjugate," I say.

"Looks like we'll have to agree to disagree." Byleth stares up at the sky. "What's happened to you in the past five years?"

"I still hate you."

They look back at me. "Hm?"

"Dimitri's dead because of you."

"Ah." They sound regretful, but not surprised. "What happened?"

"It was your forces. A Kingdom noble named Cornelia imprisoned and executed Dimitri for supposedly killing his uncle. I understood the truth when I discovered that she was an Imperial operative."

"Edelgard promised that we were going to turn on them and their kind," Byleth says. "Did she keep her end of the deal?"

"The Empire is enemies with Cornelia's Kingdom, but they haven't made any moves to attack."

Which is mostly my fault, so I don't push the issue.

"I'm sorry about Dimitri," Byleth says.

"Your apologies don't mean anything. Not after you spent months telling me to take care of him back on Earth only to cause his death."

"Is that why you're here instead of there?" they say. "To get revenge on me?"

"That's one reason. But the main one is that I'm stuck in Fódlan."

"Your charm doesn't work anymore?"

"Not after Thales blasted me a second time."

Byleth frowns. "When did that happen?"

"There was an attack on Earth that mirrored your assault on Garreg Mach. I found Marianne's body covered in blood in her own bathroom and heard gunshots when I reported it to Rhea."

"Thales… he's our real enemy. If you were willing to join forces-"

"Not going to happen. The Alliance will never accept Imperial overlords."

In reality, many of the Alliance houses want exactly that, but I'm not about to tip the secret of how fragile we are. Surely Hubert at least has figured it out. And yeah, siding with Edelgard eventually might be the best choice for my people, but if I must yield I want to force a deal that's good for the Alliance. That means I have to pose as a threat for as long as possible.

"A shame," Byleth says. "It sounds like you've been through a lot."

I gnaw on the inside of my mouth. I don't want Byleth to play therapist for me. What will actually keep the Alliance stable is their severed head hanging from a pike. But with Divine Pulse they have the ability to turn any act of aggression back onto me. And as strong as I've become over the past five years, I don't think I can match up to the Ashen Demon herself.

"I know we have to be enemies now," Byleth says, "But with me at the helm of the Black Eagle Strike Force, the war will be over soon one way or another."

I take a deep breath. Byleth's right that Edelgard will have the confidence to invade if she has Byleth as her tactician, and we're going to be the first target so that we can't send raids across the border the moment they set foot in the Kingdom.

And to be fair, this will bring Edelgard out to the front lines. If we kill her, the Empire falls into chaos with no heir.

"Perhaps that is for the best," I say. "A few more showdowns to decide the fate of Fódlan instead of dragging this war out any longer."

"On that note," Byleth glances past the far end of the monastery, "I have a favor to ask of you."

"Why should I help my enemy?"

"Two reasons. First, I'll be in your debt. You want me to get your charm working again? With the powers granted to me by the goddess, I'm sure I can find a way to cleanse whatever Thales did to it."

"It's not supposed to be a transportation charm, you know."

"I'll find a way. Second, I know you care about the Black Eagles students not named Hubert or Edelgard. And they could be in danger right now."

"I thought you didn't know anything about the outside world," I say.

"This is me putting two and two together. My students promised to meet me at the monastery on this day."

I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Edelgard could show up at any moment and put her new shiny axe Aymr in my skull.

"I asked around and it sounds like this area is Imperial territory, but that Garreg Mach isn't where most of the troops are being held. So when my students return, they'll be passing through a thieves' den."

Right. There's that big one I saw while I was flying here.

"You help me clear them out, and I'll owe you big time," Byleth tells me. "What do you say?"

Despite Byleth's betrayal, I don't think they've ever lied to me in a malicious way. Withheld information from me, yes. Lied with the intention of protecting me, yes. But they never tried to use or manipulate me. And if I help them out with this simple task, they'll be in my debt.

You know what? Fuck it. We're going to give crazy a try. Our chances of winning the war are slim to begin with now that Byleth is back in action, so might as well make sure they're fond of us and don't go hard on my people in case they do win.

"You have to promise not to let me die while we're fighting bandits together, okay?" I say.

"Promise. I'll use Divine Pulse to save you if I must."

I exhale through my nose. I know this is a stupid idea. Hell, Byleth could shoot me in the back right when I start fighting bandits for them. But I can't deny that I'm curious to see if their skills have rusted away at all in sleep. Assuming I do survive, I could carry valuable intel back to the Alliance.

Guess I'm going to fight alongside Byleth one last time.

#

We arrive at the thieves' den together, and there are a _lot _of bandits there. When fighting with them five years ago, I learned that Byleth has two modes. First is to charge in and dismantle the opposition before they can react. The second is to lure enemies into places where they're outnumbered and then crushing them with superior numbers.

Byleth goes with the second strategy to start, hiding in wooded areas for cover and engaging one enemy at a time. I provide cover fire from the air atop Omar with my relic bow Failnaught while examining Byleth's movements. It doesn't look like their beauty sleep has slowed them down at all. They do take a couple of cuts that stick because we don't have a healer with us, but not enough to put them in serious danger of dropping.

Which is good, because I'm not sure what I'd decide if they were about to go down and I had the choice between saving them and leaving them to die.

After Byleth takes out a few enemies, I hear commotion from both north and south. I fly up to get a better view and see Caspar slamming gauntleted fists into some bandits up north with magical support from Dorothea while Petra weaves in and out of battle on a wyvern down south. I shout at everyone to group up in the middle, and it doesn't take long for us to reconvene.

"Claude?" Dorothea looks up at me while healing Byleth. "Why did you decide to join us now of all times?"

"I'm here to keep you safe, and then I'm bailing," I say. "Teach here says they'll owe me one, and they'd better make it count."

"Where are the rest of you?" Byleth says. "Don't tell me…"

The three Black Eagles students exchange glances.

"We got separated from Lin, Ferdie, and Bern when we encountered some bandits a while back," Dorothea says. "Edie and Hubie needed to attend some official empire business first."

Byleth swears under their breath. "Let's try to dispose of these bandits quickly so that we can go looking for them."

"Sure," Caspar says. "But after that you need to explain where you've been all this time."

Byleth grunts and starts giving orders. The Black Eagles students fall into formation and go where directed, asking no questions. It looks like some things haven't changed much in the past five years.

We advance further into the thieves' den and Byleth's orders keep us out of serious harm. I'd forgotten how safe I feel when fighting alongside them. Some of the bandits try to escape with the valuables they've stolen, and Byleth targets them first. Ruthless and effective, same as always.

Eventually I hear more signs of fighting and Byleth sends me to check it out before I can take the initiative to do so myself. I fly up and over the thieves' camp to the far side and see Linhardt, Ferdinand, and Bernadetta fighting against a group of bandits. Seriously, how many of these bandits are there and why are they all so willing to fight to the death?

I fly towards them, and Bernadetta lets out a scream.

"It's… it's… we're all going to die!"

"No need to fear," Lindhardt says, yawning. "We all die eventually. Oh hello, Claude."

"You." Ferdinand keeps his axe raised while he looks at me. "What is the Alliance leader doing here?"

"Saving your asses," I say. "The rest of your classmates are on the other side of the fight. Byleth's with them. Let's try to cut a path through."

"How do we know that you are not leading us into a trap?"

"Stay here if you want," I say. "Your deaths won't be on my hands."

"You can do this, Bernie," Bernadetta says. "If you can get out of your room, you can fight these bandits with your bare hands if you need to."

"Coming?" I say.

"Yeah, yeah." Linhardt yawns again. "Just… give me a moment to take a nap."

I roll my eyes and start shooting at the bandits between them and Byleth's group. Most of them stand their ground, perhaps because Byleth did try to target the ones who fled. The poor fools.

For all their complaining and questioning, the Black Eagles I'm with follow my lead and fight off the thieves that come their way. Eventually, we manage to regroup with Byleth. No casualties.

"Professor," Bernadetta says. "You're really alive."

"Takes more than a dragon to kill me." Byleth smirks. "Thanks for the help, Claude. Let's go for the leader."

Byleth keeps us together as we advance towards the center of the camp. After taking out the thieves who charge us, we pile attacks onto the leader before he can even raise his blade in defense.

I had forgotten how easy fights were with Byleth on our side.

As I glance around the room, Byleth walks up to the body and examines it. Their head jerks over, and I follow their gaze to see people outside the gate of the central headquarters building running towards the exit of the ruins. One of them looks like the leader we killed.

"We only took out a decoy," Byleth says. "Claude, can I trust you to take the shot?"

"Can do."

I fly up through the broken ceiling and take my aim. Failnaught is difficult to draw, but years of practice make the motion natural. When I loose the arrow, I can tell that it's going to fly true. It soars through the air and slams into the leader's chest. He crumples to the ground after that single hit.

"I think our work is done here. Good job, Omar."

I give him a pat on the snout and direct him back down to the ground. I have him land, but I don't dismount. If any of the Black Eagles students decide that the war will be easier with the Alliance Leader gone, I need to be able to make a quick retreat.

"Glad to see that everyone's safe and sound," Dorothea says. "So now can we talk about what is going on?"

"Well, I've been sleeping for the past five years," Byleth says, "So the rest of you know more than I do."

"And why is Claude here?" Caspar says. "Not that they ask me about this stuff, but isn't he our enemy right now?"

"You know, that's a good question," I say. "I happened to be in the area and Byleth roped me into this mess."

"You just happened to be in Empire territory?" Linhardt says. "I can't tell whether Byleth's excuse or yours makes less sense."

"I was sneaking across your borders to scout, okay?" I reply. "And Byleth genuinely doesn't seem to know anything that's happened in the last five years. They didn't even know that you all were responsible for Dimitri's execution."

"Hey, I didn't even know that Cornelia woman," Caspar says. "And we turned on her eventually because she's one of the bad guys. You know, working with Solon and Kronya."

Cornelia is part of Those Who Slither in the Dark? I'll keep that in the back of my mind.

"Edie and Hubie were the only ones who might have known," Dorothea says, "And I'm not sure our accomplices in the Kingdom shared all the information with them."

At the end of the day, it all goes back to Edelgard. I suppose it's too much to hope that the universe throws me a bone by having her fall sick and die.

"Speaking of which, Her Imperial Majesty and His Insufferable Spymaster should be on the way," Linhardt says. "So you may want to make your presence scarce, Claude."

"Good idea. Catch y'all later, hopefully not on the battlefield."

I snap the reins and guide Omar up. He takes off the ground.

"Wait," Ferdinand says. "Just a moment before you go."

I have Omar hover above the ground, out of melee weapon reach.

"As a noble, I believe in showing gratitude when it is due," Ferdinand says. "So… thank you for talking me through what to do when we were at the monastery. It won't stop me from fighting the Alliance if duty commands me, but-"

"I get it. You're welcome, Ferdinand. Let's all try to make it through this, okay?"

A series of nods from everyone except Byleth, who looks deep in thought. I try not to linger on that. I take a deep breath and direct Omar up into the sky. Before long, I'm soaring with the clouds, and the world below is distant enough that my worries melt away.

What a surreal day.

* * *

**I always thought that Crimson Flower should have a nice "Reunion at Dawn" moment because seeing your students come onto the battlefield one by one with timeskip designs and new battle lines was one of the most memorable parts of the game to me. It's a bit trickier to pull off logistically since people fighting in the Imperial army logically wouldn't be separated and Garreg Mach isn't really that far away from the front lines in Crimson Flower like it is in other routes, but I did my best. **

**And writing this chapter really drove home for me how weird it must be to see Byleth again after five years when they've been presumed dead. But now they're back and ready to continue the plot... we'll see what that means for Claude. **

**Notes:**

-Part 2 is titled "Crimson Wind." This is a mashup of "Crimson Flower" (Edelgard's route) and "Verdant Wind" (Claude's route)

-As far as I could tell, Claude's wyvern has no canonical name. A reddit thread said that people in Joe Zieja's (Claude's voice actor) discord called the wyvern Omar as a nod to Joe's friend who helped him perform parkour stunts that FE characters use in battle animations (great video btw), so I'll be doing the same.


	22. Chapter 17: The Aquatic Capital

I get back to Derdriu as quickly as I can, working through in my head what I'll tell everybody about Byleth. I should be the one to divulge the information to ensure that Edelgard can't surprise anyone with it. But I can't tell the Alliance Lords the truth about how powerful Byleth is without sounding like a fearmonger. And I need to stand strong as a bastion against the Imperial forces at our border, so I can't make it sound like I'm terrified of them.

Even though I am.

I fly into the stable on the top of Derdriu's capitol building. Omar is less talkative than normal during our descent, and he doesn't react to my usual affectionate pats. Poor wyvern must be exhausted from how fast I'm having us go. I flip a gold piece to the stable girl and ask her to give him some extra treats for working especially hard today.

Being a bigwig leader has taught me the importance of speed walking. I walk towards the Alliance round table with the pace of someone trying to transition into seeing walking as a sport while maintaining a regal gait. The guards at the door see me and open the way to the room. I walk inside and take my seat at the head of the table, studying the other lords. Margrave Edmund gives me the same dirty glare as always, and I don't blame him one bit. If I had noticed sooner what was happening to Marianne, his daughter might still be alive. Duke Holst Goneril is staring out the window, twiddling his mustache. I'm glad that at least one person here is simple and easy to work with. And on the other hand, we have Mr. simple but hard to work with Count Gloucester, who continues discussing something about taxes while I enter the room. And finally, we have Lady Ordelia, who keeps her face neutral with the same quiet sadness in her eyes that I see so often. I'd pay a thousand gold to know what's going on inside her head.

"I thought you were out on reconnaissance today, Duke Reigan," Lady Ordelia says.

Finally, Count Gloucester shuts up. I take my seat and lean forward, elbows on the table.

"I was," I say, "And I found some bad news."

"The Imperials are attacking us?" Holst sits up in his seat. "We must prepare the armies immediately."

"Be quiet and listen for once," Margrave Edmund says.

"I did not find a war declaration, but there was something almost as damning," I say. "Everyone here is familiar with the Officers Academy professor who sided with Edelgard and went missing five years ago, correct?"

"Ah, yes," Count Gloucester says. "Lorenz spoke highly of their abilities. It was a shame that they taught the Black Eagles instead of our children."

I see nods around the table from the others except for Lady Ordelia, who appears to be surveying the situation. I imagine Holst heard stories from Hilda, Edmund from Marianne, and Ordelia from Lysithea.

"Well, they are alive," I say. "I found them with some of my old Black Eagles classmates at the ruined Garreg Mach monastery."

"And they let you go?" Lady Ordelia says.

"Not much they can do against a wyvern rider who wants to flee."

"That professor has magical power. If you saw them, I imagine they threw a fireball or two that singed your tail. Maybe we can check on the state of your wyvern to see if you were attacked?"

"What exactly are you insinuating, Lady Ordelia?"

"Lysithea tells me that you were rather friendly with the Black Eagles class. May I be blunt, Duke Reigan?"

"Please."

"I am trying to ensure that you are not an Imperial spy."

Well, that's quite the leap. But honestly, I have to admit that I look a little suspicious. I was the one who insisted that we break off our alliance with the Church after Marianne died five years ago, and here I am bringing a tale that is as unlikely as it is terrifying. Perhaps I should have considered this further.

"I trust young Claude," Holst says. "He's proven himself to be a worthy warrior in battle."

"And you went to his side rather quickly about a year ago, Duke Goneril," Lady Ordelia says.

Oh, right. That was when I introduced him to my father's friend Nader, who's a renowned general of Almyra. The two of them hit it off and went out drinking together despite being bitter political enemies. Even though I've presented as male my whole life I still don't understand men sometimes.

"You must tell us the truth," Margrave Edmund says. "I know you care little for the lives of your friends, Duke Riegan, but the entire Alliance is at stake here. Do not play these games with us."

"I believe Duke Riegan," Count Gloucester says. "If only because he continues to rope me into this insufferable anti-Imperial act that we insist on playing. Which of course ignores the fact that my lands will be the ones that suffer first if Edelgard marches across the border with her army. If Duke Riegan wanted the Empire to invade us, he'd be trying to sow division between us."

Lady Ordelia puts a finger on her chin. "Perhaps I was hasty with my accusation. Please tell us what you saw, Claude. In full."

I give them the run-down, which includes being honest about how I worked with Byleth to get more information on them and earn a potential favor.

"A declaration of war is imminent," I say. "We all need to stand strong together. If we can keep the Empire from crossing the Great Bridge of Myrddin, none of us have to suffer. And remember, the longer we keep the Empire at bay, the more desperate they become."

"You keep insisting that," Count Gloucester says, "But the Empire hasn't tired as of yet."

And they weren't likely to now that Byleth has returned.

"I know my professor," I say. "They'll want to fight on the front lines. And where they go, Edelgard follows."

"Could one mercenary truly hold so much sway over the Adrestian Emperor?" Lady Ordelia says.

"This is excellent news," Holst says. His voice booms around the room. "I get to test my strength against the greatest mercenary in the business. Their tactics are no match for our sharpened Leicester arrows."

"I will not allow you to march into my territory and garrison the Great Bridge of Myrddin," Count Gloucester says. "That is final."

"Stop blathering on, you old goat," Margrave Edmund says. "We must make the Empire pay for the pain they have inflicted upon us. I say we should call on the Kingdom to assist us."

Lady Ordelia stiffens. "Absolutely not. If you join forces with Cornelia's regime and those dark mages of hers that cast hexes in the shadows, I will side with the Empire."

More grumbles from around the table. Out of everyone, I'm the only one other than her who knows about the children she has lost to Those Who Slither in the Dark. In a few years, Lysithea will be taken from her as well.

"The point is that we all need to band together," I say. "I agree with Count Gloucester that Duke Goneril should remain in Derdriu with us to ensure proper government during this turbulent time. What if Goneril soldiers are sent to support a force led by a different house?"

Holst scoffs. "You don't have anyone else who's the warrior I am."

"Ah, I see," Lady Ordelia says. "I'm sure she'd be happy to take a shot at the Empire."

Count Gloucester frowns. "Who are we talking about, now?"

"Judith of house Daphnel," I say. "I believe I can convince her to garrison our side of the Great Bridge of Myrddin."

And I have other reasons for choosing her over Holst. Mainly, that her spy network is extensive enough to be able to predict the Empire's every move. I suspect that Hubert will try and sabotage us to avoid outright conflict, and Judith is the only one who stands a chance at negating him.

"The Hero of Daphnel, huh?" Margrave Edmund says. "Fine by me. I can provide finances for weapons and provisions."

I offer a nod of thanks. Ensuring that our soldiers have proper nutrition and medical supplies will give us an edge over the Empire, and we'll need every advantage we can get.

"I suppose that is acceptable, considering that her house would not dare try to encroach onto my territory," Count Gloucester says.

"Lord Holst," I say. "Are you willing to provide military support?"

"I suppose I can." He crosses his arms. "But who is going to govern Daphnel territory with Judith gone? I was planning on leaving my affairs to Hilda when I went off."

"I'm sure she has a retainer she feels comfortable trusting her land with. It's something I can discuss when I talk with her, which I needed to do anyway. Are we all in agreement with this plan?"

A series of nods from around the table. I let out a sigh.

"Excellent," I say. "Judith is in Derdriu right now, so I'll meet her right away. Tell me later if you need me to vote on changing tax laws or whatever."

I rise from my seat and exit the round table room. I'm always afraid that someone will stop me when I try that, but I don't have time to deal with the rest of their squabbling today. After turning the corner and walking down the hallway where they can no longer see me, I feel my shoulders relax.

Now let's see if I can find Judith. That seems to be half the battle of getting her to help.

#

I remember that Judith likes Derdriu's ports as much as I do, so I check the docks first. The smell of salt in the air mixed with fish reminds me of Seattle, and when I see fishermen unloading crates off boats I picture the Seattle market where workers toss fish over dozens of heads to the other side of the open room. Always a bitter sensation, reminiscing about childhood.

And sure enough, I find her sharpening a blade on one of the docks, her feet dangling off the edge. I sit down next to her and look at the sea stars and barnacles on the rocks beneath us. The cool air rises from the water and blows my hair back.

"I'm assuming you didn't come here to stare at my work, boy," Judith says.

"I'll cut to the chase. I'm here to ask you to defend the Great Bridge of Myrddin."

"Ah, you finally got around to it. I thought you'd come to that conclusion years ago."

"Circumstances have changed," I say. "That professor I told you about is back on the loose."

"After five years of disappearing." She continues sharpening her blade. "Where did you hear this from?"

"I saw them with my own eyes and flew back as quickly as possible. I'm guessing it will trickle in through your intelligence systems in a couple of days."

"I'll keep an ear open. How long do I have?"

"It's Byleth we're talking about, so not long. I'd try to get something together in two weeks, if you think that's feasible."

"That's a tall order, boy." She stands up. "But you came to the right person to ask. I have a special squad of elite soldiers that are ready to march at any time. Perfect for defending a bridge."

"Holst is also going to send reinforcements, if you think you can handle his soldiers."

"So rowdy. I swear that his troops have learned how to party from the Almyrans."

The Fódlan version of me lived in Almyra for his childhood, and I bet he hated all the celebrations if he's anything like me. Though who knows, maybe it was normal for him.

Speaking of which, I occasionally wonder what happened to the real Fódlan Claude when I travelled over here, but I'm guessing I'll never find out.

"Well, this is a good time to put my plan into action," Judith says. "Your retainer Nardel seems quite competent, despite giving me the same aura as my drunkard uncle. You chose well."

"Thanks."

Easy does it. Nobody in the Alliance except for me and Holst know that Nardel and his wyvern squadron are actually Nader the Undefeated and his elite soldiers. The Alliance still isn't on great terms with Almyra and I'm not trying to blow open another diplomatic incident while we're dealing with Edelgard and Byleth.

"As such, I decided to ask him to watch over my lands," Judith says.

I raise an eyebrow. After a few seconds, I decide that she's not joking. Asking someone else's retainer to watch your lands is unusual but there aren't any rules against it, technically.

"Are you doing this to torment me?" I say.

"Like I told you, I think you chose your retainers well. If I'm going to be risking my life out there for you and your precious political plans, I think I deserve to pick which retainer I want. Don't you, boy?"

"Sure, go ahead. It's not hard to organize more support for watching over Riegan territory."

Judith looks disappointed that I'm not putting up more of a fight. She swings her sword through the air a couple of times, and I take the opportunity to watch her form. Clean and efficient, without needless flourishes. If anyone can match Byleth in a sword duel, it might be her.

But could she do it several times in a row with Byleth having the benefit of cover fire and magical support? Considering the question makes me wonder if I'm sending Judith to her death.

"You stay safe out there, okay?" I say. "Trust me when I say that Byleth is no ordinary opponent."

"Yeah, yeah. I promise I've faced worse, boy."

She doesn't get it. But I don't think there's a way to drill just how dangerous Byleth is into that thick head of hers, so I decide to let it drop.

"Come with me, boy," Judith says. "I have something I need to show you."

"Is it going to be quick? I hate to play this card, but I don't have a lot of time to spare."

She starts walking away without waiting for me to get up. "You'll want to see it."

I curse under her breath, but I have to admit that this is better than the flowery honorifics and hidden glares most nobles prefer. I hop to my feet and follow her into the streets of Derdriu. It's still strange to me how people me and get out of my way. I don't think most of them know who I am, but from my outfit there's no question I'm someone important. Even here in my natural environment, I can't blend in with the crowd or the towering buildings.

But it's probably good in this case, because Judith doesn't look back once as she leads me further into town. Before long we reach a tavern, and I can hear booming voices and laughter inside.

My introvert senses are tingling.

Judith steps in without hesitation, and I follow behind. If I can tag along with her then hopefully people won't ask me too many questions. As she scans the room, it occurs to me that this is my first time in a bar or tavern. Teenagers are allowed to drink in Fódlan so I could have visited one anytime, but I had no reason to.

"There we go," Judith says.

I follow her gaze and see Ignatz, Raphael, Leonie, and Lysithea sitting at a table. Lysithea is the only one who notices us when we approach, and it looks like she's the quietest of the bunch. Leonie glugs a full glass of beer and slams it on the table before she sees us right in front of her.

"Hey, Judith." She blinks. "And look who it is. Our glorious leader in flesh and blood."

A scowl comes to my face. "How long are you going to call me that?"

"So long as you're our glorious leader, of course. To what do we owe the pleasure of your company, Lady Daphnel and Lord Riegan?"

"Cut it out, Leonie," Judith says. "Is it okay if we take a seat?"

"Go ahead," Raphael says. "And hey, if Claude's here that means he can pay for all of us. I can eat all the food I want."

He pats his stomach and I resist the urge to let out a sigh. I can't exactly say no to that since I'm rich enough to be able to swim in gold, Scrooge McDuck style. Judith smiles and takes a seat next to him.

"We shouldn't make Claude pay…" Ignatz says, glancing at me.

"I'm fine with it," I say, "But I'm also not going to waste my time insisting if you act like you don't want me to. So let's be honest with each other, okay?"

"I hope you can excuse his hissy fit," Judith says. "We learned some rather bad news today."

Hissy fit? I take a deep breath and sit down next to Lysithea. Out of everyone, I notice that she's the only one without an empty glass of alcohol.

"It's the Empire, isn't it?" Lysithea says.

"Yes and no…" I say, "But mostly yes. Byleth is alive. I saw them with my own two eyes, and they've reunited with the rest of the Black Eagles."

"So where were they all this time?" Ignatz says.

"I bet they were eating and training," Raphael says. "That's what I'd be doing."

"And that's probably why they're a better tactician than you are," Leonie says. "Claude, tell us. What has our dear professor been up to in these past five years?"

Leonie speaks the last sentence without a hint of warmth. It takes me a moment to remember that she vowed to hunt Byleth down after learning that they allied with Jeralt's killers.

"They said they'd been sleeping for five years," I say. "I don't know how much we should buy their act, but they didn't seem to know that Dimitri was dead."

"So they were in some sort of coma?" Ignatz says. "And they lived?"

"They've survived weirder. And now that they're on the warpath, the Alliance won't be safe."

"The boy's all worked up about it," Judith says, "To the point that he asked me to defend the Great Bridge of Myrddin."

"We should go with you," Ignatz says. "The Alliance belongs to all of us, and we're able to help defend it. I feel useless being here while Claude is working day and night to protect us."

"That's right." Raphael flexes his bicep. "I've gotta put my training to use."

"If Byleth is there," Leonie says, "I'll be. Simple as that."

"Excellent," Judith says. "Welcome aboard, every-"

"Wait a moment," I say. "You can't put yourselves back in danger again. I know you have to care for your sister, Raphael. I know your parents are counting on you, Ignatz. And I know that your village still needs you, Leonie."

"This is how we can protect all of them," Igntaz says. "You're doing your work, and we're doing ours."

But my work involves eating scallops while networking with nobles while theirs involves a bloody battlefield while the Ashen Demon charges them down with the same sword Nemesis used to slaughter thousands.

"Come on, Lysithea," I say. "You agree with me, right?"

"Nah, you should join us," Raphael says. "You're so smart, Lysithea. I don't know anyone who can use magic as well as you."

Lyisthea stiffens. "I… can't join you."

Raphael scratches his head. "Aw, why not?"

Ignatz elbows him. "Can't you see that this is a sensitive topic?"

"It's fine." Lysithea takes a deep breath. "I need to survive for my parents' sake. They've lost so many children already. I can't force them to go through another funeral like that."

Silence. I wonder if that's the reason why Lady Ordelia opposes me whenever I try to make moves against the Empire. If Lysithea gets caught up in the war and doesn't make it out, the Ordelia family loses everything. Their last heir, their last child.

But I'm not the bad guy for defending our lands, right?

"Right," I say. "And your family is safe here in Derdriu. We can do the same with the rest of your-"

"Please do," Ignatz says, "But we still want to fight. If it's not us, another person will take our places on the battlefield. Don't their lives and families matter as much as ours?"

"Plus," Raphael says, "We're not gonna lose."

Leonie leans back in her seat. "You couldn't stop me from hunting my prey with a direct order, Claude. Give it up."

I turn my glare to Judith. "You knew this was going to happen."

"But of course. And I hate it as much as you do, boy. We shouldn't be sending kids to war like this. Still, Ignatz is right. It's either them or some other poor fool who might not know which end of the spear to stab someone with."

"I don't care," I say. "I refuse to allow-"

"You can't stop them," Lysithea says. "Neither of us can."

She's looking at the ground. Since the conversation has started, she hasn't even taken a sip of her drink.

"You're going against Byleth," I say. "Do you remember what happened last time?"

"And that's why I'm going to avenge Marianne and Captain Jeralt both," Leonie says.

"If you're comfortable sending Judith and her soldiers into battle, you should be comfortable sending us," Ignatz says. "It's okay, Claude. We'll make sure to retreat if things look bad."

"You had fucking _better_."

"But just in case, boy," Judith says, "I'll put you into contact with Raphael's sister, Ignatz's parents, and Leonie's village. How many favors is it that you owe me now? 40? 50?"

"I get it, I get it. Thanks, Judith."

But it won't come to that… right?

"Well, there's no point in feeling down about it," Raphael says. "We've gotta drink extra long and hard, since we might not have this chance again for a while."

"Feel free to," I say. "Is there anything else you needed from me, Judith?"

"Are you thinking about leaving already, boy?"

"Going out drinking with friends isn't part of my job description."

"Stay with us," Judith says. "Listen to what your friends have to say and join them in the laughter. Because if you don't…" A smirk. "You might regret it for the rest of your life."

Given how many battles Judith's been in, she must be speaking from experience. I'll be busy tonight preparing for Edelgard's invasion, but I suppose I can take a couple hours to chat with my friends before they head off.

I've never liked the taste of alcohol, so I order non-alcoholic fruity drinks, which Leonie laughs at.

"Don't tell me the leader of the Alliance orders the same thing that the gossiping middle-aged women in my village love to drink during holidays."

"Shut up. I'll order whatever I want, and unlike you I'm not going to get a hangover."

"Then you don't know me. I have a liver of steel, Claude. Trust me, I'll be fine."

And sure enough, I'm pretty sure Leonie does drink more than the rest of the students combined. And while she's clearly drunk, she's not intoxicated to the point of being unrecognizable. Judith is the only other heavy drinker. Ignatz focuses on conversation, Raphael focuses on food, and Lysithea orders the same fruit punch that I do after I take the initiative. I notice that Leonie doesn't make fun of her for it.

During the conversation, I do my best to draw out details about what Ignatz, Raphael, and Leonie have been up to. Apparently Ignatz has been helping Raphael's younger sister Maya out with painting and the two of them are close friends at this point, which is sweet. I always forget that Ignatz is an artist type because of how… normal he is. Like most of the artists I know back on earth are weird and proud of it.

Oh, and most artists I know on Earth are also super queer and Ignatz really gives off "shy straight guy" energy. But it's a hard time to be an artist right now when everyone's focused on trying to survive. Ignatz's parents are managing to stay afloat as merchants, but supply is often unreliable and demand fluctuates by the day. Sounds like a stressful job, but at least they're not in much danger of being killed.

Leonie says that her village is close to the border between the Alliance and Empire, so if Edelgard breaks through the Great Bridge of Myrddin than the flames of war might spread to her home. The people there are keeping up hope, and Leonie's determined to make sure they stay safe by keeping the border secure.

Hearing their stories makes me realize that they're not marching to war on a whim like I thought they were. If the Empire breaks through the Great Bridge of Myrddin, everything in this world that they care about becomes vulnerable. And through their jokes, laughter, and lighthearted jabs at each other, one fact becomes clear to me.

They're prepared to die for the people they love.

It's easy to get caught in the awe that I have for people like them who are willing to risk it all to protect what they hold dear. But the truth is that Byleth and Edelgard are forcing them into this situation. If it weren't for them, we could have put passive political pressure on the church until they helped Fódlan transition out of an age of birthright based on crests. Nobody needed to get hurt.

I won't forgive either of them. For what they did to this world, for what they did to Marianne, and for what they did to Dimitri.

Judith stays quiet for the whole conversation. After night falls and I pay for the table, everyone leaves and she waits for me at the door and we walk outside together.

"You did well, boy," she says. "You might be the leader we need after all."

"Everyone has those stories, don't they?" I say. "I'll never be able to hear them all. And when I make decisions, people will lose children, parents, lovers, friends. It will be my fault when that happens."

"Right. You could even go through all of Derdriu and talk to each person for a night and still not understand them. And yet you're supposed to make choices that affect whether they live or die."

"So how am I supposed to make those decisions?"

"That's up to you to figure out, boy."

Judith pats my shoulder and then leaves. I watch her walk off into the streets of Derdriu until she merges with the hazy darkness of night. I let out a sigh and turn to walk back to my quarters. When I do, Lysithea pops out from behind a corner.

"Oh, I was worried you left," she says.

"Not much of a party talker?"

"I do feel like the odd one out. We never got a chance to visit these places as young noble children, and I'm glad they don't judge us for that."

"Was there something you wanted to tell me?"

"There was something I wanted to ask. Do you think I'm a coward, Claude?"

"I've fought alongside you and I know you're not one. Where is this coming from?"

"They're willing to lay down their lives to protect the Alliance. And here I am, barely going to live a few more years anyway, worrying only about myself. I thought it was pathetic of me."

"I don't care how much longer you're going to live," I say. "Your life is precious. Remember that, Lysithea. Besides, we'll need people who can use healing magic like you for the hospitals we set up."

"Like how Marianne was supposed to be."

I don't know how to respond to that. I was the leader of her class. If I had been a bit faster, then…

"I see it still haunts you, Claude. I… don't know why I brought it up. I didn't mean to accuse of you anything."

"It's okay. I don't want to get over it."

"We all have ghosts, don't we?" Lysithea looks up at the moon. "Speaking of which, my mother and I differ on our views towards the Empire."

Huh? How was that related to ghosts?

"My mother is resigned to living under Imperial rule. She thinks that if Edelgard is in charge, she'll at least prevent from going through what I did. And… from what I think she also went through."

That's true. If what Thales did to Lysithea and Edelgard on Earth transfers somehow to Fódlan, they both underwent horrific experiments in which their siblings died. Though I wonder if the telekinesis bit is identical. Still, it's sensitive enough that I don't feel the need to ask Lysithea now.

"And your view?" I say.

"The group that experimented on me could only exist due to the Empire's vast reach and power when the emperor wasn't able to control all of it. I don't think Edelgard would let them harm more children, but she might not have a choice. The bigger the empire, the more secrets in the dark that slip beneath her notice. Not to mention that Edelgard's heir might not be the person she is."

"So you think it's essential that we resist the Empire."

"If they break through the Great Bridge of Myrddin and invade us, I'll defend this land until my dying breath. I swear it. But I can't risk my parents suffering the grief of losing another child unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Which also means that if you do get into a fight and you start to lose, put your own life first. Surrender clearly. Even though you're dangerous after being disarmed, they shouldn't kill you outright."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, Claude."

She starts to walk off.

"And one other thing, Lysithea."

"Hmm?" She turns back to face me.

"Your mother's right about the Kingdom harboring the people who hurt you. Cornelia is affiliated with them. If we do lose, promise me you'll help Edelgard and won't stop until you wipe them all out, okay?"

A pause. For a moment, I think she's going to deny me.

"I promise," she says. "And you stay safe too, Claude. Without you, the Alliance will fall into chaos."

I want to deny her words, but I know she's right. Getting those lords to agree to anything is like herding sheep.

"Sure," I say. "Not planning on dying until I can put an arrow through Byleth's throat."

"Good luck with that," Lysithea says. "You're going to need it."

She walks off, leaving me to think about her words. She's right that it will take a miracle for me to bring down Byleth. Perhaps I should have made my move sooner… but that would have dragged the Alliance into a bloody war and torn apart thousands of families. Besides, I had no reason to suspect that Byleth was returning. But now that they are, victory seems hopeless and three of my friends might be marching into the jaws of death.

What a fucking mess.

#

The next day I arrange a meeting with Lorenz and Hilda to discuss the news with them. We talk inside a meeting room inside the capitol, and it becomes clear that their families told them about Byleth's return.

"You're not going to ask me to fight again, are you?" Hilda says. "You know I've never been good at that sort of thing. I prefer to cheer the brave soldiers along."

"Then you should have become a healer," I say. "Regardless, I can't ask you two to risk your lives. You're too important."

"Oh, thank goodness." Hilda breathes a sigh of relief. "I can't imagine dying out on some pointless stupid bridge."

She might have to start imagining it soon, based on what happens to the people we know when Byleth decides to invade.

"I do wish I could provide assistance to the defense of these lands," Lorenz says. "But…"

"But?"

A sigh. "May I be blunt with you, Claude?"

"Please do."

"My father believes that the Empire is on the winning side of this conflict. He has been in contact with Edelgard for the past five years. While the two of them have not finalized any sort of deal, he is ready to switch at a moment's notice."

I suspected as much about Count Gloucester, but it's nice to get this confirmed from Lorenz himself.

"So he can't risk fighting with the Empire, is that it?" I say.

"He sees no benefit in it. And now that Judith is leading the charge, he is content to sit back and let the events play out."

I exhale through my nose. I should have pushed him harder. If I could have positioned it so that his forces took the most losses, he couldn't contribute as much to the Empire when if he does decide to flip.

But that's in the past. And rather cold thinking on top of it. Gloucester's soldiers aren't pawns in my game. I must remember that.

"If Edelgard breaks through, my father will most likely join with them immediately," Lorenz says. "And honestly, I do not blame him. Seeking the survival of the Alliance means protecting its people over its sovereignty, painful as it is to bend the knee."

I don't think Count Gloucester gives a single shit about his people. I still have blackmail I can hold over him if necessary. Many years back, he tried to get my grandfather assassinated, and bringing that issue to light will reflect poorly on him. If Edelgard knows how much he schemes to gain more power, she won't put him in a position of power where he could conspire against her. Most likely, Hubert will dispose of him.

A part of me wants that to happen. The plot to have my grandfather assassinated ended up killing Raphael's parents, who were covering for Ignatz's parents. Ignatz still feels guilty about what happened, and Raphael's been forced to suffer ever since.

"That's good to know," I say. "Thanks, Lorenz."

"Do not misinterpret my words for kindness," Lorenz says. "If the Great Bridge of Myrddin falls, you would do well to side with the Empire."

"After one defeat?" I say. "No can do. But I do have plans for ensuring that casualties stay low. If we lose the bridge, I plan on drawing all of our forces back to Derdriu for a single, decisive battle."

"Hopefully it doesn't come to that," Hilda says. "If Derdriu gets scary, I'll go back north to Goneril territory. Better to risk the Almyrans than Edelgard's wrath."

"Not so fast," I say. "You might be needed here. You're one of the few people I know with combat and leadership experience."

Hilda's face pales. "There have to be better people."

"Remember, we usually relied on the church for our military support," I say. "We're in desperate need for good military leaders

"Our practices kept us reliant on the church," Lorenz says, "Which was a mistake. Claude, do you think we should have…?"

"Given the church a second chance? I don't think so. They don't care about us, and they don't care about Fódlan. All the Knights of Seiros want is to find Rhea. If we had them on our side, they'd use our forces to invade the Empire and escalate the bloodshed to a whole new level. Marianne's death wasn't a fluke. It was a sign that we're all disposable to them."

"I agree," Hilda says. "And you've been doing such a good job of juggling all this political and military stuff, Claude."

I raise an eyebrow. "So much so that I don't need your help, is what you're saying."

She coughs into a fist. "I, uh… think you're fine handling it on your own."

"You're not weaseling out of this one that easily, Hilda. In fact, your cowardice makes you the person I trust the most for the job I have in mind."

"Cowardice? That's rather rude." She puts her hands on her hips.

"What is this scheme of yours, Claude?" Lorenz says. "I have a bad feeling about it."

Right when he asks, I hear a knock on the door.

"Duke Riegan, a message for you."

How did they know I'm in here? Guess my voice is recognized by the messengers from how often they have to track me down. I do sometimes feel bad for them when they have to find me after I do some scouting with Omar, but most of the time they can leave it on my desk and I'll get to it.

I open the door to see a young woman with a letter in her hand. I take it and nod thanks. I gnaw on the inside of my mouth when I see the Imperial seal on it. I break the seal and start reading the letter while I walk back.

_Dear Claude,_

_The professor and Her Majesty will be arriving at Derdriu next week on the 19th at noon. I trust that you will be on your best behavior as hosts and allow them to negotiate without attacking them, or else we will be forced to take your hostility as a declaration of war. You will set up a round table in the wyvern landing pad of Derdriu's capitol building so that they may arrive and leave at their leisure. As a show of good faith, I have been requested not to accompany them. So no need to worry about poison in your drinks. _

_I hope to hear good news about the negotiations. If not… well, you know what happens._

_-Hubert._

Short and to the point. Hubert must be a busy man.

"Well, you can't leave us in suspense," Hilda says. "Come on, Claude. Tell us."

I read the letter again over again. I don't think I'm missing anything. Then I toss it across the table to Hilda. She reads the letter and gasps, at which point Lorenz requests to see it.

Time to see how much Edelgard has changed in these past five years.

* * *

**Hey, everyone. :) Hope everyone in the Pacific Northwest is doing okay with the fires. **

**And turns out in a game with a lot of characters including them all takes up a lot of space. Who would have thunk it? Speaking of which, we don't get a ton of info about the Alliance round table, since none of the lords other than Claude actually appear on screen. The one leader I don't think we hear anything at all about is the head of house Ordelia, so I decided to make Lysithea's mother the head noble representing house Ordelia and built her character from scratch. The others I tried to extrapolate a bit from.**

**Also it was nice to give Judith a bit of a mentor role for Claude because we never really get to see that even in VW where Claude mostly looks up to Byleth instead. **

**Hope you all have a wonderful day! **

Review Response: Guest: I'm so glad! :D


	23. Chapter 18: Beyond Escape

On the day Hubert's letter designated, I arrive at the wyvern landing pad on top of the capitol building to see the other lords already there around a round table that was brought for this special meeting, leaving space for Edelgard. Nobody speaks a word, except for Holst to ask for the time after we wait around in silence. Noon passes, and then quarter after. No Edelgard.

This is a common move in the political fantasy dramas I read throughout middle school. Edelgard is showing up late to signal that we wait on her and that there's nothing we can do about it.

At about half past noon, I see a pair of wyverns approaching the landing pad. We have numerous soldiers waiting in reserve in case they try something, and I have Failnaught strapped to my back. Still, if Byleth decides to wipe out the Alliance lords here then I'm not sure there's much we can do about staying alive. I must believe that they don't want to throw the Alliance into chaos like that if they plant to use these territories for their own benefit after conquest.

Edelgard and Byleth land on the wyvern pad on the end of the round table across from me. Edelgard is wearing what looks like an impractical mixture of armor and a dress that goes down to her knees, which looks awkward when she's straddling a wyvern. She also wears a large, red cape that's longer than her body. A part of me wonders if the outfit is also a statement. She doesn't even take us seriously enough to wear real armor.

Neither of them dismount, and Edelgard has her wyvern walk up to the table and has one of the servants take aside the chair set out for her. Since she's such a shortie, I bet she's relishing in this opportunity to have the height advantage over everyone for once.

"Greetings to the Leicester Alliance," Edelgard says, "And thank you for your hospitality. I am Edelgard von Hresvelg, Emperor of the Adrestian Empire, and I hope we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement at the end of this meeting."

"I am hopeful as well, your majesty," Count Gloucester says. "There is no need for this bloodshed to continue."

The others go around and mutter affirmations, except for Lady Ordelia. She studies Edelgard with the focus that reminds me of an AP testing room.

"And of course," Edelgard says, "While I hope that all of us can see eye to eye, my primary wish is to respect the autonomy of the Alliance Lords. If some of you come to agreements with us and others do not, so be it."

"You won't tear us apart that easily," I say. "We know that we're stronger together. For the good of the Alliance, we must act as one."

"Quite convenient for the one in charge to be saying that," Count Gloucester says.

"Let's listen to the Emperor's terms before squabbling amongst ourselves, shall we?" Lady Ordelia says. To Edelgard, "If you would be so kind."

"Thank you, Lady Ordelia." A smirk comes to her face. "My request is simple. I wish for each of you to swear absolute fealty to the Adrestian Empire."

Leading with the kicker first and then allowing one's self to be negotiated back so that the opponent feels like they're gaining a lot of ground is another common strategy. It doesn't stop the other Alliance lords from stiffening.

"Absolutely not," Holst says. "We are not some mewling lambs to lie down for you to tread all over us. Soon you will see how strong the Alliance is."

"I agree that you are quite strong," Edelgard says. "In fact, I respect your practices far more than the traditions of my own empire. That is why I do not wish to fight you."

"If you feared us as much as you say," I reply, "You couldn't hold war over our heads like this."

"I said nothing about fear. But Holst is correct that all the Alliance Lords are exceptional. And do you know why that is?"

"I have a feeling you're about to tell us," Margrave Edmund says.

"It is because your positions are not written into stone. You are all members of the Alliance round table, sure, but your influence is based on how effective you are, not how effective your parents were."

"Political maneuvering for power isn't unique to us," I say.

"But your system of government is more fluid than ours or the Kingdom's. Out of everyone, Margrave Edmund should see what I mean."

"Because my ancestors took House Daphnel's spot."

"Exactly. Instead of ending up with incompetent lords and rulers, you are able to let the exceptional lead based on their own skill. Isn't that meritocracy something everyone should want?"

"I don't get it," Lady Ordelia says. "If you win and tell the commoners that birthright means nothing, there's nothing to stop them from revolting against you and putting whoever they want on the throne."

"Do you think I am so incompetent to allow mob rule to take place?"

"Lady Ordelia's right," I say. "Establishing a meritocracy has no benefit for you, since it weakens your claim to rule."

"On the contrary," Edelgard says, "I will have proven my worth not through my birth status, but through my actions."

That's when it clicks in my mind. She doesn't only want to conquer Fódlan so that she can have dominion over the Alliance and the Kingdom. She _needs _to bring Fódlan to its knees to show that she is strong enough to fit within her own meritocracy.

This war exists to make a point that she is a strong ruler. And for that, she's willing to sacrifice thousands of lives. I glance over at Byleth, whose expression is unreadable. They went along with this?

"So is there any hope at peace between us?" I say. "You need your little show of strength, right?"

"If I can bring the Kingdom and Alliance under my control, it doesn't matter how. That's something no Emperor has been able to do since your territories split off. It is not about military might, Claude, but competency."

"You say as you loot and slaughter."

"These verbal attacks will get you nowhere. So what do you say, Alliance Lords? Life underneath an Adrestian banner is not so bad."

"If you're expecting a full surrender, the answer is no," Lady Ordelia says. "I hope you have a specific offer in mind for us, Emperor."

"Of course. I propose the following. You will all get to retain control of your lands and pass down inheritances to your children. Life as normal will not change for you barring payment in the form of taxes, which are less than what you paid to the church. In return, the Adrestian Empire will provide military protection against all hostile forces, including the Kingdom and Almyra."

"If we get to keep our own lands…" Count Gloucester rubs his chin.

"We're capable of dealing with Almyra ourselves," Holst says. "We don't need you to waltz in and act like you know how to protect us from them."

"Ah, Lord Goneril. I was hoping that you would be the most excited about this proposal. Under my plan, the Alliance round table will be abolished, so you will have more time to garrison Fódlan's Locket and train soldiers instead of playing these silly political games. And in addition, you will have Imperial weapons and funds at the ready."

"We should not even consider accepting a proposal that relinquishes our ability to govern the Alliance as a whole," I say. "If the Empire can divide us, we have no bargaining power once their soldiers march into our territory. They can go back on their world with the snap of their fingers and there's nothing we can do unless we band together to resist it."

And therein lies the fundamental problem of the Leicester Alliance. This sort of loose confederacy doesn't work in wartime. I think back to how the US started with an almost nonexistent federal government under the Articles of Confederation and how ineffective it was at managing even basic matters.

"Maintaining some semblance of regional government is negotiable," Edelgard says, "But it must have Imperial oversight."

"And you mentioned enjoying how the round table seats are not permanent," I say. "So all of our jobs are at risk if you decide you want to support some up-and-coming lords. But then again, weren't you trying to abolish the nobility system entirely?"

"So long as you are confident in your own abilities," Edelgard says, "There is nothing to fear. You will be the representatives of your provinces if you can win the support of your people."

"So your plan comes down to mob rule," Lady Ordelia says, "Again."

"You are all so determined to look on the negative side, but can't you see that the current system is just as dangerous and painful? Let's say you have a brilliant child who is prepared to take the reins to become a politician capable of expanding your family's influence across the whole Alliance. If they don't have a crest, all of their skills are useless. My system allows you to have better heirs."

"So we'll get to choose our heirs?" I say. "Because going from the oldest child with a crest inheriting to the oldest child inheriting regardless of a crest doesn't assure any more quality."

Edelgard nods. "Birth order is a silly means of determining who has the right to command. Think about it. Under my rule, you'll have more control over heirs, be paying fewer taxes than when the church controlled Fódlan, and have better military support."

"That sounds great until the commoners start raising pitchforks at us because our crests are no longer seen as the divine right to rule," Lady Ordelia says. "How are you going to prevent that bloodshed, Emperor?"

"Violence and destruction of property will still be illegal, even if the crest system is abolished. Those who break those laws will be punished accordingly."

"Honestly, I'm not sure how much of a difference there will be between now and if we bend the knee," Count Gloucester says. "The strong among us will be able to control our lands, even if we are no longer separated from the commoner class. And I can tell that you are worried because you can barely govern your own lands, Lady Ordelia, but that problem will not go away under our current system."

Lady Ordelia doesn't acknowledge that she so much as heard Count Gloucester.

"Exactly," Edelgard says. "You all fear the future, but the present is equally painful. That's why I fight. Not because I find the death toll acceptable, but because I find the atrocities I've seen under the current system even more unacceptable."

"So what about a provisional regional government?" Margrave Edmund says. "Are you offering that or not?"

"Oh, I suppose you could keep your Alliance round table if you care so much about it. I'm feeling generous today. But if you don't agree to this offer, don't expect me to offer the same terms next time."

"None of you should trust this," I say. "Don't you all remember what happened to Duke Aegir and Lord Vestra when Edelgard took power? The same will happen to us. There's nothing stopping Edelgard from marching in here, lobbing our heads off, and putting in puppet rulers who are dedicated to her instead of schemers like us with our own agendas. Your lives are forfeit if you agree to her terms."

"You know me from the academy days, Claude," Edelgard says. "Am I the type of person to do that?"

"Absolutely. You see your own classmates as pawns, so you didn't tell them that you were the Flame Emperor. You love imprisoning and killing nobles who are powerful enough to oppose you. Does everyone here know that the first thing Edelgard did after taking the throne was imprisoning Duke Aegir? He didn't have a single opportunity to act against her. We're all guilty until proven innocent with her."

"You have no idea what you're talking about." Edelgard's eyes narrow. "Aegir was a traitor to the Empire."

"Such a broad banner. Every false crime under the sun is treason. Give it up, Edelgard. You eliminated anyone who posed a threat to you. If we are as strong and competent as you say we are, that means we have targets on our back."

"Killing you all would destabilize the Alliance territory," Edelgard says. "I'm not the type of person to make your people suffer like that."

"Oh, you're not?" I say. "Then explain what happened to the Kingdom. Wait, don't tell me. I already know. You had Cornelia kill Dimitri, who was our friend, and then had her rule Fearghus and funnel all of its resources into you while its people starved."

Edelgard flinches. "We are enemies with Cornelia."

"You say you are, but you haven't made any moves against her. Cornelia led her little coup right after you took control, and I have numerous sources saying that you were the one who gave that order. If we submit to Edelgard's rule, we'll end up exactly like the Kingdom did."

The best lies are laced with truth. Cornelia _was _affiliated with Edelgard, but I have no reason to think that Edelgard plotted out the coup by herself. Likely it was something that Cornelia took the initiative on by herself. And I do believe that the Empire and Kingdom are enemies now, because I'm the one stopping Edelgard from invading the Kingdom. But if she says any of that now, it will sound like a hollow excuse.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Edelgard says. "I'm trying to wipe Those Who Slither in the Dark from this land."

"Then do it. Invade the Kingdom. I won't stop you. In fact, we could do it together."

Edelgard blinks. "Together?"

I look around at the Alliance lords. "Lady Ordelia at a minimum knows how dangerous Cornelia and her kind are. It is in our best interests to ensure that their darkness does not seep into our lands."

"I have little to offer in terms of money or troops," Lady Ordelia says, "But if we are taking on Cornelia, I'd provide everything I have."

"I can provide Riegan troops as well, and once I explain the situation to Judith I bet she'd be willing to help out. So what about it, Edelgard? We could fight side by side to eliminate our true enemy, but only if you give your word not to invade us afterwards."

"You know I can't do that, Claude. If the crest system is held up anywhere, suffering will continue. This has to end. You can't weasel your way out of this decision any longer. You will either submit to me, or your people will die."

"Look right now at who the Adrestian Emperor is," I say. "She disposed of the Imperial nobles who spoke against her. No, who didn't even have the _opportunity _to speak against her. Then she led a coup against the Kingdom, condemned it in name, but refuses to take action and instead drained its resources away to fund her conquest. Then she comes to us promising good treatment but ends on a note where she threatens to slaughter our civilians if we don't obey her every command."

"I didn't-"

"Seeing who the Adrestian Emperor is," I say, "Do you want to submit to her now?"

Around the table, a series of head shakes. Even Count Gloucester follows, which is a blessing for the moment.

"You've all made a terrible mistake," Edelgard says. Turning her gaze to me, "And know that I don't appreciate your lies about me, Claude. I was hoping for a fair, honorable solution to this conflict, but with you I see that isn't possible."

If fair and honorable means our people starving and dying like the Kingdom's, I'll keep scheming until the day I die. Edelgard snaps her wyvern's reins and flies off. It takes me a few seconds to realize Byleth is there. I'm fairly certain they haven't spoken at all during this exchange.

"I'll give you all one last chance," Byleth says. "You agree to our terms, or you have to face me on the battlefield. Simple as that."

Holst snorts. "I'm not scared of an academy professor. How many real battles have you actually seen?"

"I'm guessing plenty, being a mercenary," Lady Ordelia says, "But that doesn't mean you know how to command large-scale armies."

"I don't need an army," Byleth says. "I suppose it's easier to show you. How tragic this is, that the common folk have to die in order to drill a point into your thick skulls."

"Don't act like you're above this," I say. "If you build your life off of slaughtering and pillaging, you can't be surprised when some of us grow a backbone and protect our lives."

Byleth flies off on their wyvern without another word. I let out a sigh as they soar off into the skies. I'm guessing Edelgard knew that we were going to refuse her offer, and only talked to us now so that she could justify offering us worse deals when we're more desperate down the line.

The only option is to stop her at the Great Bridge of Myrddin. Good thing I have an arrow with her name written on it.

#

Every day when I wake up in Derdriu, a part of me expects to receive a message saying that the Empire is invading our territory. It helps to go through each day busy making preparations and negotiating with minor lords for support so that I don't have time to dwell on it. But each day that passes only makes me more nervous. Because I know that Byleth and Edelgard are planning on ravaging the lands and people I've sworn to protect. But I don't know when.

And then one morning, it happens.

It's almost noon when a soldier bursts through a door into a conference room where I'm discussing optimal supply line routes. I can tell from his sleek, light armor that he's a pegasus knight, even though he doesn't have his mount with him.

"Lord Riegan." He pants without pausing his speech. "The Empire's forces have been spotted marching towards the Great Bridge of Myrddin."

"I'll leave right now," I say, standing up.

"Lady Judith said to stay here and let her handle the situation."

"Like hell I'm going to. She knew I was going to show up. I hope the battle's not lost by the time I get there."

Fancy walking be damned, I need to get out as soon as possible. I run through the hallways and up stairwells until I reach Omar's stable. He lets out a puff of hot breath through his nostrils when I approach, which I know is a sign of affection. Still, he doesn't waste time greeting me like he normally does, and I wonder if he can tell that I'm in serious mode.

Omar and I take off into the skies. It takes a conscious reminder every minute not to wear out Omar's stamina during the beginning of the flight. It will take longer to arrive if I push him to his max speed now, and I'll need to make sure he saves some energy to perform the necessary flight maneuvers.

"This is going to be a gnarly one," I tell him. "Try to hang in there, okay?"

He doesn't reply, but his next wing flaps seem more confident. I swear that wyverns are better listeners than people.

Eventually, I make out the Great Bridge of Myrddin in the distance. I bite my tongue so that the pain reminds me not to push Omar into a sprint even now. It's hard when I see my people down below clashing with the Imperials. How many of those people will die because they believed in me and my vision?

"Let's get down into the action, Omar," I say. "Steel yourself."

I have Omar dive down towards the scene of the battle. The Imperial strike force itself is small, and Byleth is leading the charge. I make out all eight of the Black Eagles students following behind, clashing with Judith's soldiers. Unlike in the battle at Garreg Mach, there are no demonic beasts or other large targets. However, a large force of Imperial soldiers advances forward behind Byleth's strike force in the background.

I grit my teeth and fly over to Judith, who garrisons the middle of the bridge.

"What are you doing?" I say. "Pull your forces back to our side so that retreat is easier."

"I'm doing things my way, boy. I hope you didn't show up and think that you get to run the show today."

I look up and see Byleth and the others cutting a line through our forces. I have Omar fly up and I take shots at Byleth. The barrage of arrows does make them halt their advance, which gives our forces a chance to get back into formation. Byleth makes eye contact with me, and while I'm too far away to hear anything they might say I do see them stiffen.

They don't know the terror that we do. We knew that someday, an emperor who only cares about killing and conquering was going to step on our lands and slash at anything that moves. And now backing them is a person with the powers of a god.

I'm going to bring them down from heaven and back to earth. I'm going to keep inflicting pain until Byleth knows the terror they subjected us to.

As I take my aim at Byleth, a figure flies up past me.

I fire at my new attacker, but I miss by a mile. I let out a growl and have Omar fly up. I can't focus on the enemy below and someone above me in the skies at the same time. As Omar ascends, I can tell that this new combatant is riding a wyvern, but nothing else. After a few seconds, they dive at me with an axe outstretched. I maneuver Omar to the side in time for the axe to graze past my throat. And while the enemy wyvern flies past, I see Edelgard's purple eyes narrowed at me. Time seems to slow, and her axe Aymr blinds me with its glowing light.

A jerk in my saddle tells me that Omar is maneuvering me to safety. I blink the light out of my eyes to see Edelgard flying at me again. This time I draw a blade and our weapons ring out as we pass by each other.

Flying jousting. This would be exhilarating if it weren't so terrifying.

"Quit avoiding me and fight," Edelgard says. "Nobody else needs to get involved."

"Should have made that offer before slaughtering my people. I'm not going to let you subjugate Fódlan for the sake of your own bloodlust."

"You don't know anything, Claude. Why are you so afraid? We both know that the church is-"

"This isn't about the _fucking _church. This is for Marianne. This is for Dimitri. This is for all the people behind this bridge who are about to be slaughtered by your murder gang if I fail here."

Time to unleash the power of this relic bow. I nock an arrow and channel the power of my crest into the weapon. I haven't practiced this combat art as much due to how much it wears on Failnaught, but it comes to me naturally.

Fallen Star.

I aim for Edelgard's chest and let loose. A dark trail follows the arrow as it soars through the air. She jerks her wyvern to the side, but not fast enough. The arrow slams into her right arm, and Aymr nearly slips out of her grip.

Her mouth twists in pain and her eye twitches, but I get nothing else from her. If nothing else, I do have to admire her resovle.

Edelgard descends on her wyvern without another word for me, and disappears into the thick of battle after I miss a couple more shots I take at her. I resist the urge to chase. As badly as I want her head, I should count myself lucky that I'm still alive.

Instead, I fly around to survey the battlefield. We're losing on all fronts and the Empire pushes us further and further back. On one of the flanks, I see a battalion of Alliance soldiers being surrounded.

No time to waste.

I fire off more arrows while having Omar dive towards the action. For each Imperial soldier I take down, two more replace them. What am I supposed to do when they beat us with skill and numbers? I glance back at the group of our surrounded soldiers and see that about half of them have already fallen.

Leading the remaining Alliance warriors is Raphael, who charges into a group of Imperial troops and takes out a dozen in a matter of seconds. One gauntleted punch, one kill. I provide cover fire to protect him from incoming attackers, but he's in bad shape. I need to get him to a healer fast, which means we need to cut our way out of this mess.

I shout an order to target the Empire soldiers behind them. If they can break through the thin line cutting them off, I can get them to rejoin with the rest of the army. Thankfully, Judith's soldiers are well-trained enough to put my commands into action. The cavaliers go first, trampling the Imperial foot soldiers while spearing anyone who isn't in their direct path. The poor horses must be terrified, but they do their job and the cavaliers make it out safe.

The rest of the Alliance soldiers start funneling out the break in Imperial lines. I fire more shots at the ones who try to seal the exit. Raphael is one of the last ones out. From the size of the gap, he should be able to make it.

And then I see a blast of dark magic cutting off the exit route. Through the lingering black flames I spot Hubert, wisps of darkness floating off his fingertips. A ball of darkness appears floating above his palm. He looks at Raphael, who's cut off and surrounded. Then he looks at me. Chuckles.

He fires the ball at Raphael.

When the magic connects, Raphael falls to the ground. Hubert points at his body and orders to the soldiers to move in for the kill. Before I have time to knock an arrow, a half-dozen soldiers are on him.

Dead. He must be.

Blood rush drowns out all other sounds. I fire a series of shots at Hubert. One, two, three. One of them nails his leg, but he doesn't react. He fades back into the crowd of Imperial soldiers, and I follow.

He's not getting away with this.

A blast of dark magic covers my field of vision. I must be close. I only need to-

Omar lets out a screech of pain. I snap back to my senses and jerk the reins up to have him ascend. As I rise, I look down to see Hubert smirking at me. I think he killed Raphael on purpose to try and lure me in. Take out the Alliance leader and end the war the next day. I can't even be angry at him for trying that strategy. It's my fault for not being strong enough to protect Raphael.

Omar's flying is more like an uneven flutter, and that's when I realize he took an arrow to the wing. The shaft is still stuck in his wing, and it's a miracle he can fly at all. I have him glide over to the rest of the Alliance forces and have him land next to Judith.

"Looks like you were right, boy," Judith says. "That professor really is something else. A few of my soldiers and I are going to charge them and buy time for the rest of you to escape."

"Don't you dare."

"I didn't ask for your permission, boy."

"Raphael's dead. I have to-"

"His death will mean nothing if you fall here. Retreat to Deridru and fortify the city. Kill the Emperor and her little mercenary pet there."

I close my eyes and suck in a breath. I don't want to admit it, but I know that Judith's right. When Marianne died and I charged Byleth, I should have died for it. It's cold to run and leave my friends' corpses to rot, but I can't let my rage drag the people close to me into more issues.

"This is what it's like to be a war leader, boy," Judith says. "Get used to it."

She doesn't wait for my response before charging towards Byleth's army with a battalion at her back. The rest of the soldiers look at me for guidance.

"Fall back," I say. "The day is lost, but we can live to fight again."

Raphael's sister, Ignatz's parents, and Leonie's village are now in danger. I want to blame myself because if it is my fault then I can improve and win the next time around, but I'm not sure if we had any chance at the start. I've never seen Byleth lose. I've never even seen them falter.

As I pull the rest of Judith's forces back, I look over my shoulder to see Edelgard walking up to a kneeling Judith and executing her with Aymr. White-hot anger leaves me stiff, and even gripping the reins tighter doesn't stop my fingers from trembling in rage. Edelgard didn't need to kill her. In fact, she had more to gain by taking Judith hostage and using her as a bargaining chip to make deals with the Alliance and maintain control over Daphnel territory.

Marianne, Dimitri, Raphael, Judith. The list of people I need to avenge gets longer and longer.

* * *

*I fixed an error from previous chapters saying Nader is Claude's father. Turns out Claude's dad is the king of Almyra, and Nader is most likely an uncle-type figure who knew Claude from a young age.

**Crimson flower is pretty brutal. One thing I didn't realize for this chapter until I looked on the wiki is that Judith tries to retreat if the battle goes on long enough and the game forces you to kill her to win. She's really easy to kill turn 1 or 2 so I never got there lol. **

**One of the fun things about Three Houses is how much each side lies to make their enemies look bad. Edelgard and Seteth/Rhea are all guilty of it, so I thought Claude could join in on the fun. Most of what he says about the Empire is partially true but probably harsher than is fully accurate. Then again, he's not about to give them the benefit of the doubt when they're invading his homeland. **

**Oh, and it did feel bad to kill Raphael in this chapter despite him not appearing on this level in three houses, but that was what ended up making the most sense to me given the versions of characters I'm running. **

**Hope you all have a great day! :)**


	24. Chapter 19: The Last Bastion

After Judith's death, her soldiers look to me for guidance. Which, let me tell you, is fucking _terrifying. _I've never even had to take care of my own pet before, and now these people are expecting me to command them through battles when I have limited combat experience? But then again, I suppose we're all new to this large-scale war. From what the history books say, this type of conflict hasn't ravaged Fódlan in a thousand years.

The first matter is to get Omar's wing healed. Thankfully, Judith has enough white mages that one of them can spare a healing spell for my poor wyvern, and he's back to his spunky self in no time. I then fly up with him to scout the Empire's next movements after crossing the Great Bridge of Myrddin. The direction the army marches in tells me that Edelgard is headed for Daphnel territory. Retreating there will only lead to another battle where we have even worse odds than last time. The other close territory is Gloucester, but Lorenz warned me that his father was going to flip sides if the Empire broke through our border.

The Alliance territories close to the Airmid River are all but captured at this point. No use in trying to prevent the inevitable. We could fall back to the next line of defense, but if we spread ourselves too thin it will be easy for Byleth to outmaneuver us. Our only real chance is to garrison all our troops in a fortified city.

Derdriu. That's our only option. A part of me wonders if it's hasty to abandon so much Alliance territory after one battle, but I know deep down that Byleth won't even be slowed down by more skirmishes on an even playing field. Using our walls and archers to our advantage gives us the best chance at driving them back.

I lay out this plan to Judith's soldiers. They don't look happy, but they also don't question me. I tell them that anyone who wants to leave can return to their families, and after exchanging glances with each other they all decide to stay. No point in going home only to live under Imperial rule for the rest of their lives.

I'm itching to fly ahead and tell the Alliance Lords the news, but I decide to stay with the soldiers for the entire march back. They've devoted their lives to fighting alongside me, and the least I can do is stay by their side after a brutal defeat.

Plus, it lets me check up on how various legions of soldiers are doing. A few took especially hard hits, but the majority of them came out of the battle relatively unscathed. Judith's maneuvering and willingness to call a retreat saved hundreds of lives, and many of them talk about their admiration from her. And I agree. It's not every day that you see a noble sacrificing themselves for their people like she did.

Edelgard made a mistake by killing Judith. Now the Alliance's best-trained soldiers all have their bows pointed at her. I imagine them swarming Edelgard and piling onto her, stabbing and slashing past her death until their weapons are covered in red.

It's a brutal thought, but it keeps me going forward. Still, I can't allow my impulses to dictate my strategy and tactics. I do my best to think up a plan besides shutting the gates of Derdriu on the march back.

When I come up with nothing initially, I check up on my former classmates. Both Ignatz and Leonie are together and uninjured, though they could have been on death's door and have been saved by a white mage for all I know. Ignatz asks about Raphael, but from the tone of his voice I can tell that he suspects the answer. I explain how Hubert targeted Raphael specifically to goad me into attacking and Leonie sucks in a breath of air.

"I bet it was his idea to have Edelgard work with Captain Jeralt's killers," she says. "Hell, he might even be one of them. Guess I have another name to add to the list."

"We only get one more chance, so let's make this count," I say.

"I don't think it's hopeless to stand our ground. We could take multiple fights and slow them down as they approach."

"They'll all end up like this one. Besides, I have other ways of slowing them down."

Leonie raises an eyebrow at me, waiting for several seconds until it's clear I'm not going to elaborate.

"Well, I do remember how you led us at the Battle of Eagle and Lion," she says. "It was thanks to your guidance that we got any takedowns at all. I know that we're on the losing side of this war. We all do. But it hurts too much to give most of our lands and people over."

"I might be able to force Edelgard to march straight to Derdriu without slaughtering and pillaging villages like yours."

"I'm counting on you," she says. "So I guess Ignatz and I should stay with you in Derdriu? I'll get a clear shot at Edelgard or Byleth next time like my life depends on it." She cocks her head. "I guess my life _does _depend on it, huh?"

"And there's something I should probably tell both of you about them," I say. "Byleth… can rewind time when battles go poorly for them."

Leonie blinks at me. "If I didn't know you so well, I'd assume you were joking."

"No room for jokes where the professor's concerned," I say. "I've perceived it before. The jumping back in time. And they've admitted to me that they can do it. That's the power the goddess granted them."

"So we can't rely on getting lucky is what you're saying. We have to corner them from the start or they'll leap back in time and account for our strategy."

"I'm glad that you're not discouraged."

"Listen," Leonie says. "Logically, we're fucked from the start. That will only make it sweeter when we pull out the victory. And when I do, Captain Jeralt can finally rest in peace."

"Remember that after the Empire, we still need to kill the man responsible for having Kronya kill Jeralt. I'm guessing that Thales is hiding out in the Kingdom somewhere, conspiring with Cornelia."

"Just another target so far as I'm concerned. For now, let's focus on keeping our own lands safe, okay?"

"Roger that."

Leonie gives me a strange look, and I begin to think that the phrase isn't commonly used in Fódlan. Which makes sense, seeing as it's typically used when talking over radio or other distance signaling. After our conversation, she focuses her attention on her horse and rides off to check on some of the other soldiers. I'm left alone with Ignatz, who I realize hasn't said a word since asking about Raphael. He's staring at the ground.

"You doing okay?" I say.

Stupid question. Of course he's not.

"It should have been me," Ignatz says.

Ah, the guilt. Poor guy. I pause and take a moment to think of any way to make Ignatz feel better. In these moments, it's so easy to shrug off any argument someone makes about it not being your fault.

"His parents should still be alive," Ignatz says, "And he should be too. How am I going to face Maya? I promised to protect him."

"I don't have answers, Ignatz. But I do know that you're not alone in feeling the way that you do. This guilt, this pain, this suffering… that's the reason why we need to make sure this struggle ends soon, one way or another. For everyone's sake."

He nods, his eyes still fixated on the dirt.

"Sometimes, the feelings get worse when they fester and ferment inside of your mind," I say. "I can't be around all the time to talk, but I'm sure there are other soldiers in the army who can relate to the guilt of losing a close friend in battle."

A smirk comes to his lips. "You were supposed to tell me it wasn't my fault so I could argue back."

"If it's helpful, I can do that. Because I do think that you're not at fault here."

"I wish we won," Ignatz says. "Then his death would have meant something. If I could tell Maya that her brother died like a hero making sure the Imperials couldn't ravage our lands, it would seem less hopeless."

I of course also wish we drove Byleth and Edelgard back, but Raphael's dead either way. And…

"He did die protecting the other soldiers in his company," I say. "Most of the others were able to escape because of him."

I see Ignatz's slouch recede. It's barely noticeable, but it happens the instant I say that Raphael died protecting others. I guess we're all desperate for that bit of hope and heroism to hang onto.

"That sounds like him," Ignatz says. "I bet he was happy with the choices he made."

"Right. All you can do now is protect Maya and the rest of the Alliance."

"I… think I can do that. Thanks, Claude. I can't believe you actually made me feel better."

"Hey, that comes from you. I can't take credit for you processing grief."

A smile comes to Ignatz's face. It doesn't cover up the worry in his eyes, but he's trying. I wish Byleth and Edelgard could see this right now. They've devoted their lives to beating us down and taking everything we have, but we'll never stop fighting to protect our homes and loved ones.

"Let's get 'em next time, okay?" I say. "We'll have one more chance at Derdriu."

"More people are going to get dragged into this battle, aren't they?" Ignatz says.

"That's the reality we face. After this is over, let's never let this happen again."

"Never again…" he looks up at the sky. "That's something to strive for."

Down but not out. Despite the overwhelming odds against us and godlike powers on the opposite side, there's still a light at the end of the tunnel. Byleth can't crush our hope. Not when it's the only thing we have left.

#

When I return to Derdriu, I play my initial gambit. Even before meeting with the lords at the round table, I scribble down a message.

_Your Majesty,_

_Congrats on your victory at the Great Bridge of Myrddin. I am sure tales of the soldiers you massacred will be passed down for generations. Because you killed Judith instead of taking her hostage, you have no leverage over the rest of their army, who are helping me defend Derdriu. Do you ever question if your bloodlust is a mistake? But if you did, you wouldn't be on this path in the first place. I see you for who you are, Your Majesty, and because of that I cannot allow you to rule over my people and quash the last of the light in their lives. _

_Yet more prolonged battles will be disastrous for all sides. You will win the skirmishes, I have no doubt, but imagine how your army will fare with wyvern raids nipping at your heels with each step you advance into the Alliance. In order to prevent this unnecessary loss of life, I have a proposal. You will not attack or pillage a single village in the Alliance. You will proceed straight to Derdriu and fight the Alliance head on. In exchange, we will not try to stand in your way until you reach Derdriu, and we will not launch raids on your supply lines. I know that you do not care about our lives, but I hope that you are thinking about your own. This agreement will minimize casualties on all sides. _

_Give it a thought, Emperor Edelgard. And take a moment to consider how many families you've already torn apart._

_-Claude von Riegan_

Okay, maybe I went too far with the jabs, but I know that Byleth at least is a practical thinker. This agreement is beneficial for them if they are confident in their ability to take Derdriu head-on because it will allow them to essentially be at full strength to march into the Kingdom afterwards and fight Cornelia. That is, if they're planning to challenge Those Who Slither in the Dark at all. Edelgard did work with them, and eliminating them can't be her first priority if she's insistent on conquering us instead of teaming up.

I get a messenger to deliver the letter as quickly as possible. Edelgard's not the type to kill mail carriers, right? I hope that Byleth will see the utility in having reliable means of communication and parley.

From there, I wash up and use the time to mentally prepare myself for the Alliance round table. I already know that it's going to be a shitshow.

The good news is that I don't have time to panic. After I wash off the dirt and grime, I walk into the round table room in the middle of yet another discussion. Silence falls as I walk over and take my seat. I try to act with the same poise that I always do, both for the benefit of my allies and to send a message to the lords thinking about flipping.

"Duke Riegan." Lady Ordelia is the first one to speak. "Is it true that we have lost the Great Bridge of Myrddin?"

"It is," I say. "Judith fought valiantly, but it appears that the Empire's strength is not to be underestimated. My plan is for the next battle to take place at Derdriu."

Three concerned looks and Count Gloucester fiddling with a fake rose on his outfit with an accompanying smirk on his face.

"I knew this was going to happen," Count Gloucester says. "There is no point in resisting the Empire. I have already sent a message to Emperor Edelgard declaring fealty."

Holst stands up. "Then what are you doing here? Go out and serve your master like the dog you are, Gloucester."

"Please, remain seated," I say. "Count Gloucester, it sounds like you are forfeiting your house's position at the Alliance round table."

"Oh, not at all. The deal I worked out with the Empire maintains the round table and promotes me to the leader of the Alliance, actually. So while you play your little games here, I will be at the _legitimate _round table over in Gloucester territory."

"Then go ahead and leave," I say. "And tell Edelgard not to pillage any of our lands or she's going to regret it. I've sent her a letter detailing terms."

Count Gloucester stands up and struts over to the exit of the room. After opening the door, he turns back to face us.

"So are you coming, Lady Ordelia?" he says.

I see her stiffen. All eyes go onto her, and the fact that she doesn't immediately deny what Count Gloucester is insinuating makes me think that he's right.

"What is the meaning of this?" Margrave Edmund says.

"I can't afford to stand against the Empire," Lady Ordelia says. "Believe me when I say that I agonized over this decision. I suffered through Imperial occupation once and it took all of my children but one away from me. But this time is different. Say what you will about Emperor Edelgard, but she is too strong of a leader to allow more blood experiments to take place beneath her nose."

I think I'm the only one here who has the full context for what happened to the Ordelia family, but everyone at the round table knows that something took place. The rest of us are silent as Lady Ordelia walks over to the exit with Lord Gloucester.

"I hope that you defeat the Empire." Lady Ordelia averts her gaze. "I truly do. But I have to plan for the worst-case scenario. If Edelgard invades my lands now, thieves will take the chaos as an opportunity to loot and pillage from my people. As you all love saying when you want to argue against me, I can barely control my own lands."

"Are you going to allow this, Claude?" Holst says. "We should arrest them."

"We didn't break any laws," Gloucester says. "We're all free to choose which other states we ally ourselves with. If you arrest everyone who surrenders to the Empire, you'll have uprisings on your hands."

And more importantly, it will throw their lands into chaos. Which is good if my only goal is to stop Edelgard, but I can't do that to the people I've sworn to protect.

"But you're not surrendering to them," Margrave Edmund says. "You're conspiring with them to gain political power."

Gloucester shrugs. "Semantics."

"If I did try to arrest you, Count Gloucester," I say, "What's stopping me?"

"I'm so glad you asked, Duke Riegan. It turns out I have an army waiting outside the borders of the city and they'll attack if anything happens to me. Do you think your forces can handle back-to-back fights against me and the Adrestian Empire?"

"You snake." Holst slams a fist on the table. "I spend my life defending the Alliance from Almyra and you use an invasion from the other border of the Empire as an excuse to make a political move? Where is your honor?"

"Honor didn't get any of our houses to where we are today. I'm simply making the best move for myself. Lady Ordelia is no different."

"Do not compare us," Lady Ordelia says. "My desperation is not the same as your malice."

"Bold words to be speaking against the next leader of the Leicester Alliance. But I suppose I can let them slide for now. I will be interested to hear how many of you survive Emperor Edelgard's conquest."

Holst grumbles and tenses like a leopard about to pounce on Gloucester.

"Let him go," I say.

"See, at least one of you has a functioning brain. Farewell, and don't think that I'll forget your words today when you answer to me, Holst."

Count Gloucester walks out of the room, spraying his hair with some sort of perfume-style substance on the way. Lady Ordelia gives us an apologetic smile and follows after him. Once they leave the room, I call for some paper and begin drafting another letter.

"In the middle of a meeting, Duke Riegan?" Margrave Edmund says. "I knew you were negligent, but this-"

"Oh, indulge me in my pettiness this time. I'm writing a letter directly to Hubert."

"The Vestra child?" Margrave Edmund frowns. "About what?"

"Oh, listing out our dear friend Count Gloucester's long list of plots, schemes, and assassinations. Hubert will not want another ambitious schemer in power to interfere with his plans."

"But all decisions must be made through Edelgard," Holst says. "Why not write to her directly?"

"I'm not certain you're right about that. A lot of powerful people in the Empire have disappeared, too many for me to think that Edelgard handled each one on her own. I'm hoping Hubert assassinates Gloucester on his own."

"Devious," Holst says. "That sort of plotting never made sense to me."

"This way we're not hurting any of his innocent people. But more importantly, we need to figure out how to defend Derdriu when Edelgard marches in."

"This city doesn't have the solid defenses of Fódlan's Locket," Holst says. "Edelgard probably won't even need a siege to break us."

"It's not like a siege would help her much anyway since she lacks the ability to deal with our fliers bringing in supplies. Our air force is our biggest advantage."

"Speaking of which," Margrave Edmund says, "Where do your legions of wyvern riders come from, Claude? The previous Duke Riegan never had access to anything of the sort."

I exchange a glance with Holst. Both of us know about the military support Nader has been providing me.

"He never needed to use them, did he?" I say. "It's a Riegan family secret."

"If you say so."

"Once we're confident that Edelgard is marching towards Derdriu, our first step should be to evacuate the civilians," Holst says. "Unless we think that Edelgard will go after them."

"She shouldn't." I hope. "Agreed. You know what? Why don't I put you in charge of this whole defense, Holst? You know how to hold a fortress better than anyone in Fódlan."

He scratches his head. "A city's quite a bit different than a fortress, you know."

"We're trying to keep them behind walls. It's the same general principle. Listen, it's not about being perfect. But you're better for the job than I am. All of the Riegan and Daphnel troops are at your command, Holst."

He bows his head. "Thank you for this opportunity, Claude."

"And I am fairly worthless here," Margrave Edmund says, "Seeing as how I have already handed over my funds. I will not be providing troops for the effort."

Likely because he wants to be on the record of not having directly fought against the Empire if they win, but his money was key in allowing us to support a larger army so I don't challenge him on that point.

"Great, so I'll leave the city defense planning to you. In the meantime, I'm going to try and secure us some additional military support. Catch you later."

I hop out of my seat and make my way towards the door. Neither of the remaining Alliance lords asks me anything else, so I leave. I go to one of the lower floors to look for a messenger who can deliver my letter to Hubert, and I see Lysithea and her mother talking in a hallway. From the way that their eyes are narrowed at each other, I'm guessing it's not exactly a heartfelt family moment.

"Ah, Claude," Lysithea says. "Can you help explain to my mother why I need to stay in Derdriu?"

"Please, Lysithea," Lady Ordelia says. "There's no need for you to get caught up in this war. You can be safe and happy at home with me and your father."

"Do you want to stay here?" I ask Lysithea.

"I don't have a lot of time left," Lysithea says. "Mother, I can't let the Empire take everything from us again. I understand that you can't make a move without them coming for you, but I'm free to do as I please."

"And why do you want to risk your life out on a battlefield? I thought you'd learn what war is like after what you told me about the battle at Garreg Mach."

"Thinking about that has made me more determined to stop the Empire's rampage, not less. I thought I could use my skills and powers to earn money and support you in the political sphere, mother. But now I see that I can use this power to make sure nobody has to go through this again."

"Claude." Lady Ordelia turns to me. "Please try to talk my daughter out of this. There's no reason for her to toss her life into the upcoming stampede like this."

"You've seen me fight, Claude," Lysithea says. "You know I can make a difference."

"As the leader of House Riegan, I can see where your mother is coming from," I say. "You're rather important to be fighting in battle directly. But as your friend, I say you should chase your goals. And if you want to bring and end to this war, your help will be appreciated."

"How can you do this?" Lady Ordelia says. "I thought you were distraught after you lost Edmund's daughter after knowing her for a year. What makes Lysithea's life worth less?"

"I carry her death with me every day," I say. "As I will with Raphael's."

Lysithea gasps. "You don't mean…"

"Guess I should be happy that Judith made me listen to all of his stories that night we were out drinking. They feel different now."

"But that's not enough for you to make sure the rest of your friends are safe," Lady Ordelia says.

"My friends get to make their own choices. If we can come together, we might be able to kill Edelgard and stop her from bringing desolation to the people we care about. For me, that's worth fighting for. Ignatz and Leonie feel the same way. I'm not going to stop Lysithea if she agrees."

"So this is how you fight back," Lady Ordelia says. To Lysithea, "If fighting gives your life meaning, then I have no room to argue. But I cannot change the reality of my own situation."

"I know you can't provide military support. Go home and rest for a while. You and father deserve it."

Lysithea's mother pulls her into a hug. "I'm going to miss you. Stay safe out there, okay?"

Lysithea squirms at first, but reciprocates the embrace. I let my gaze wander so I don't make them feel awkward by staring. After a full minute, Lady Ordelia releases Lysithea and continues on her way out of the capitol building.

"Thanks," Lysithea says.

"I didn't do anything. The determination came from you, and I appreciate your help. But what I said before still stands. Surrender early on if you think you're in danger, and help Edelgard hunt down Thales if you do."

"I appreciate how much you value my life. If the situation looks hopeless, I won't squander my chance to live and ensure that the blood experiments can never happen again."

I'm satisfied with that, and I need to get on with my business. I wrap up the conversation with Lysithea and instruct her to talk with Holst about her role in the upcoming battle. I don't know how much he's worked with powerful mages in the past since the Goneril family isn't known for magic, but mages are essential support for most armies so I can count on him not to be clueless.

After that, I send my letter off to Hubert and then I'm off travelling again. I can tell that Omar is tired when he takes to the skies, but this flight is going to be a short one. I try to tell him that, and I like to imagine that he understands by the way he keeps up his pace even when his wings are shaky.

Time to finish up my preparations.

#

I knock on the door to the seemingly abandoned manor overgrown with weeds. This used to be where the Riegan family lived before Derdriu started to bustle with trade and we moved closer. But I guess my ancestors in this world were too stuck-up to give it to poor people because it's still off-limits to the public.

I hear shuffling from inside, and the door opens to reveal Nader. He welcomes me in and has me sit down on one of the ornate but now musty couches in the manor. I didn't exactly expect him to renovate the place, but it looks like it's in an even worse condition than when he arrived. Not that it matters all that much to me.

"Hey, kiddo," Nader says. "One of my wyvern riders told me about your battle. I could have helped out, you know."

"It's all right," I say. "I don't know how well your forces would mix with Judith's."

"Yeah, she asked me to watch over her lands as well, but I'm not sure if it's possible for me to defend them at this point. Remaining undefeated requires picking your battles wisely."

"So that's how you do it. You just run away from any fight you could lose."

He gives me an affectionate punch to the shoulder and I grin.

"If you were anyone else, that would have been to the teeth," he says. He's joking. I think. "So what can I do for you, kiddo?"

"Well, I didn't have you help defend the Great Bridge of Myrddin because I want you to defend Derdriu instead. With any luck, Edelgard will march right up to our doorstep and it will be a good chance to take her out."

"I haven't gotten a chance to take a swing at Imperials before," Nader says. "This should be fun."

"Oh, I'm also leaving Holst in charge of defending the city, so he'll have more details than I will. Feel free to talk with him whenever. It looks like we won't be having any more round table meetings since two of the lords defected, so he should have _some _time to discuss logistics with you."

"Ah, that kid has a good axe arm and a better liver. Are you ever going to face me in a drinking contest, kiddo?"

"There's no point in playing out a scenario with only one outcome. Please save your drinking with Holst for after the battle, all right?"

"No promises, kiddo. Sometimes my throat gets dry and water doesn't cut it."

I should have expected this. Hopefully getting Nader involved isn't a mistake.

"More importantly, I also want you to work with Holst to bring the Almyran navy in, okay? Assuming my dad will give you permission. And we don't have a ton of time for this, so I'm counting on you to keep communications going smoothly."

"Got it. You can count on me, kiddo."

Somehow, I'm less confident about this than before he said that.

"And I should be around, so let me know if you have any questions. I've told you this before, but watch out with the mercenary wielding the Sword of the Creator. They're the most dangerous person I've met."

"More than Holst? They must me something." Nader scratches his chin through his beard. "I'll look forward to facing them on the field of battle."

Not the response I was hoping for, but trying to convince literally anyone how deadly Byleth is proves to be a Herculean task. I can always tag along and help Nader swarm them with wyvern riders. Not even they could stand up to that kind of onslaught, right?

"I'm glad you're finally putting my forces to use, kiddo. We've been itching for a fight ever since we landed here in Fódlan."

I want to remind him that this is serious business, but Nader's been in more fights than I have. Even though I'm right, he won't take me seriously.

Still, I'm glad to have his support. With enough allies and forces scrapped together, we might stand a chance at stopping Edelgard's warpath.

#

My last key target is Hilda. It's surprisingly hard to find her even when I keep in close touch with Holst and the rest of our class. But eventually, I'm able to track her down while shopping for perfumes down in the merchant district of Derdriu.

"Oh hey, Claude. You wouldn't believe all the different options they have here. Ooh, lavender? I have to go with this one."

"Are you going to be done soon, or am I going to feel like an asshole when I talk your ear off while you do your shopping?"

"Uh, can't you leave a lady in peace while she's attending serious business? I thought you had to play war with my brother."

"Which is why I need to talk with you."

A sigh. "So you didn't forget." To the vendor, "I'll be right back, okay? These bottles are so cute. You'll have to tell me where you got that floral design."

Hilda follows me off to a space in between merchant stalls. Even with the war coming close to Derdriu's gates, this part of town is still bustling. I wonder if Ignatz's parents are here.

"All right, Claude? What horrible payback do you have for me manipulating you into being our representative in the dancing contest?"

"I had forgotten about that, actually. And I'm asking you because I think you're the most capable person for the job."

"Nuh-uh. If you make me fight, I'll throw down my weapons and surrender when Edelgard and Byleth so much as look at me funny."

I grin. "Perfect."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm looking for someone to hold the last line of defense. It's mostly there to ward off any stray Imperial soldier who tries to sneak past enemy lines and assassinate the leader. Because if the main Imperial forces do reach the back line of our forces, we're already fucked."

"This is beyond devious, Claude. It's straight up cruel to manipulate me like this."

"Your job will be easy. You'll lead a battalion, same as when we were at Garreg Mach. You'll stand by Holst while he gives out the orders and smash any rogue assassins or pegasus knights that try to go for a stealth kill. And if Edelgard and Byleth show up and you're surrounded, you surrender. Easy as that."

Hilda's eyes narrow. "You make it sound simple, but anything could go wrong."

"Come on, Hilda. It will be the safest place in Derdriu. Your chances of survival are higher this way than if you were hiding out in a random building."

She'd be even safer if she were evacuated with the civilians, but no need to remind her of that.

A sigh. "All right. I guess if my brother died and I wasn't there I'd feel a _little _bit bad. But you're going to owe me big for this, okay?"

"Sure, sure. Thanks for helping. Glad I can count on you to be the voice of cowardice when we truly need it."

She scowls. "Now I'm reconsidering."

"Sorry, Hilda. Got stuff to attend to. Chat with you later."

I dart off back towards the capitol building before she can change her mind. I do feel a bit bad for dragging her into this, but she should be safe. Judith's noble blood and ransom prospects weren't enough to protect her, but Hilda's smart enough to surrender or retreat when the situation demands it.

So many plans, so little time. Now I can finally follow through with my promises.

#

Finding out how to ensure the safety of Ignatz's parents and Raphael's sister is surprisingly easy. I ask some House Riegan staff about it and they essentially take care of the entire problem for me. They'll be taken into private protection by the Riegan household, which basically means there's no way for them to get hurt unless Edelgard specifically targets them.

A few days after sending my offer to Edelgard, I get a letter back.

_Claude,_

_Your words sting, but I've heard worse. I do agree to march straight to Deridru. If you pull a scheme that betrays my trust, I cannot be held responsible for what happens to other territories. I will not target civilians on purpose in retaliation, but if you cut supply lines we will need to take food from Alliance storehouses. Consider that when you plan your next moves._

_I gave Judith a chance to surrender when she and her battalion were surrounded. If you find yourself in her situation, bend the knee and make this easier for both of us. Byleth is rather fond of you, so I want to keep you alive for their sake if nothing else. _

_And I do apologize for what I must do. I expected you to side with the church, and it never occurred to me that you would take this Alliance of yours and turn it into something all its own. But Fódlan must be unified so that the church cannot keep playing us against each other. I hope to look upon a new dawn when people are judged for who they are instead of who they were born as, and I hope you live to see that sunrise with me._

_-Emperor Edelgard von Hresvelg_

After reading the last statement about being judged for who people are instead of birth status, I think that they know about me being nonbinary and are trying to win my sympathy. But the next second, it sinks in that she's talking about crests. I suppose it all does come from the same place. The people in power want to be able to define who people are. But Edelgard became a part of that problem the moment she raised her axe against the rest of Fódlan.

And the same day that I get Edelgard's letter, a Daphnel spy tells me they have something to report. They explain that a mysterious force of soldiers passed through Daphnel and Gloucester territory, marching faster than is healthy for an army. They did their best to be discreet, but the Daphnel spies were able to detect them without much trouble. It only makes sense to assume that Gloucester's agents did the same and reported the presence of this army to the Empire.

And the kicker comes in when they say that the mysterious army is raising the banner of the house of Blaiddyd. Right now, the spy's guess is that they are charging into the Empire to avenge Dimitri.

And yes, that's the logical conclusion to come to, but I wonder if there's more. Considering that Byleth was alive all this time, isn't it possible that Dimitri is still out there somewhere?

* * *

**Crimson Flower chapters have so much to them that there's always a ton of background work that needs to get done, which we see here for Hilda/Lysithea/Nader. I wanted to give Holst more of a role in this story since he never appears on-screen in 3H and there's another reason why it's convenient for me to have him be in charge of city defense. One aspect of Verdant Wind/Silver Snow that interested me is how Judith has an impressive intelligence network due to her seeing that Rhea was taken to Enbarr, and then after her forces join with yours she... doesn't use it a ton. **

**And it's probably not too hard to tell what's coming next if you've played Verdant Wind. We'll see how it turns out for Claude and the others.**

**I hope you all have a great day! :)**


	25. Chapter 20: Blood of the Eagle and Lion

It's a little scary how willing the Daphnel soldiers are to follow me into the jaws of the lion (pun intended). I float the idea of following the army with the Blaiddyd banner expecting sighs and stiff shoulders, but I'm instead met with steely looks and nods. And the more I think about it, the less catastrophically stupid my idea seems. An extra few legions of foot soldiers weren't going to do much in a city defense when we're trying to keep the enemy at the gates anyway. And it's not like losing me hurts our tactical skills with Holst here to garrison the city.

So on the same day that I get the reports of the Kingdom army, I decide to follow them. The only task left is to decide if I want to get my friends dragged into this. Lysithea and Hilda have defined rolls to fulfill here at Derdriu, and Lady Ordelia is going to kill me if I get her daughter dragged into an even more dangerous and hopeless situation. That leaves Leonie and Ignatz. I hesitate when I realize I'm pulling my commoner friends to the front lines again, but they'll want to know.

I call the two of into a meeting room in Derdriu's capitol building. Despite the imminent threat of invasion, they arrive smiling and laughing together. This is the strength and conviction from us that Byleth will never see while they use their godlike powers to cut down entire legions alone. I first outline my plan to them, and without me asking both of them say that they want to join.

"We recognize how desperate the situation is, Claude," Ignatz says. "I know you've been making preparations, but it's Byleth we're talking about here. If we can ally with this Kingdom army and gain an extra ally, we might stand a chance at holding Derdriu."

"I wonder if any of our classmates will be with them," Leonie says. "Many of them joined the resistance against Cornelia's regime, right?"

Sylvain and Felix definitely, as their houses are still resisting Cornelia's rule. Ingrid's house Galatea is in no position to act against Cornelia, but isn't exactly friendly towards her either. I bet all three of them are riding with an army that has a Blaiddyd banner. As for the others, I have no idea.

And then… Dimitri. I read the reports four years ago saying that he was executed. I swore to put an arrow through Cornelia's eye after I finished protecting my homeland. Is it possible that he's out there with them?

"I feel obligated to remind you that this mission is dangerous," I say. "If the Empire finds us sneaking through territory we occupy, we're dead meat."

Especially since I promised Edelgard not to attack any of her soldiers in the Alliance before the Derdriu fight. Which I ideally won't be doing, but I doubt she'll believe that I'm taking an entire army through her territory for reconnaissance and parley even though it's the truth.

Leonie laughs. "Neither of us would be in Derdriu right now if we only thought about ourselves. We all want to protect home. And if that means embarking on a desperate plan, I'm in."

I want to deny the "desperate" part, but I can't. She and Ignatz are both right that despite my plans, we're at a massive disadvantage. It's like that Avengers scene. I can say "We have an army," and Edelgard will reply with "We have a Byleth."

But more knights from Faerghus could change that. Many of the Kingdom soldiers are better trained than our Alliance troops anyway, since warfare is ingrained in their culture. Felix told me that he held a blade before he ever picked up a pen.

"I know you feel responsible for us," Ignatz says, "But Leonie is right. We swore to protect this land, and I'm prepared to do so until I breathe my last."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," I say. "If you're surrounded and the situation is hopeless, you surrender. Got that?"

Ignatz nods, and Leonie narrows her eyes at me.

"Okay, Leonie?" I say.

A pause, and then a slight nod. Her expression tells me not to push it further.

"So you're both serious about this," I say. "Risking your lives again in a situation where we're dead either way if we get found out."

"Don't become a merchant, Claude," Leonie says, smirking. "You have no clue how to sell an idea. But I'm in. If Edelgard is busy invading Derdriu, we can take any army that comes our way."

"I'm in as well," Ignatz says. "This is my chance to leave a mark on Fódlan's future, and I won't waste it."

I exhale. It's done, then. My friends are getting dragged into my deadly ideas again. I hope this last gambit pays off, because without it I'm left with nothing.

#

A few days later, we hit the road. I only tell Holst, Hilda, and Lysithea that I'm leaving to limit the potential of a spy relaying information to Edelgard. I'm not sure how much I can trust Holst to keep his mouth shut, but I also can't disappear on him without warning.

The army consists of me, Ignatz, Leonie, and the Daphnel soldiers. Being small means that we're mobile enough to move quickly, but when we reach Empire-occupied territory we need to slow down in order to remain unnoticed. A part of me worries that if the Kingdom army continues on their pace we'll never catch up to them, but I'm sure they'll be slowed down by battles and trying to find a way across the bridge.

During this time, I get constant reports from Daphnel intelligence agents about the state of the Kingdom army. The first ones indicate that they're moving towards the Great Bridge of Myrddin, so I head there first. But before arriving, I'm told that they decided not to attack and went off to the east. There are a few smaller bridges in that area that are less tightly garrisoned than the Great Bridge of Myrddin. We had to forfeit them after our loss to Edelgard, which wasn't a big deal. They're not big enough to move the Imperial army across, so they don't do her much good. But for small, mobile armies like mine and the mysterious Blaiddyd one, a bridge like that could be the perfect answer.

As we turn east and continue sneaking through Empire-occupied territory, we get reports of the exact bridge that the Kingdom army used to cross into Imperial territory. I let out a resigned sigh when I hear that they've gone charging into the Empire, and I ask the army if they're willing to follow me further into this mission. A part of me hopes that they'll say no so that I'm forced to turn back, but everyone wishes to make contact with potential allies even if it means pushing into the Empire.

So that's it, then. With a ragtag army and Emperor Edelgard on our doorstep, we're invading the Adrestian Empire.

It takes us longer than I like to reach the bridge where the Kingdom army crossed. At first, I don't see any Imperial guards. When I get closer, I see large swaths of corpses on and around the bridge, all wearing uniforms of the Empire. Many of the dead soldiers carry normal wounds, but some are mutilated and torn apart in ways that I don't even feel comfortable saying out loud. The corpses are fresh enough that it can't be the work of crows or other scavengers, which means that someone did this. Most likely multiple people, judging by how many corpses are mutilated.

Do I want to work with people like that?

I take a deep breath. Mutilating corpses is odd, but the dead can't feel pain. Edelgard is the one hurting the living, and I'll take almost any help I can get at this point. Cornelia and Those Who Slither in the Dark are off the table, but so far all I know is that this army has some brutal soldiers. That's not enough for me to give up on them entirely.

I lead the army across the bridge and into Empire territory before the Imperials realize what happened and send more soldiers to garrison the bridge. I'm sure they've detected the Kingdom army at this point, but if my forces can stay hidden then we have the extra surprise advantage.

Stealthing through enemy territory is still slower than I'd like, but I can tell that we're gaining on the Kingdom army based on the trail of destruction that they leave behind. I find storehouses pillaged, large areas of land burned, and villages razed to the ground with no nearby commoners. This does give me more pause. Killing civilians to weaken the production of the enemy makes a twisted sort of sense, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to work with people like that. Still, I've gone too far at this point to turn back. If I'm confronted with irredeemable monsters, I can take them out myself and use the goodwill I gain with Edelgard to petition for more generous treatment of Alliance territories.

Once I see the signs of destruction, I have us pick up the pace. And soon, it becomes clear that we're gaining on the Kingdom army. Our supplies start to run low, but we're able to forage some from what the Kingdom army didn't take or burn after killing villages. It's scummy, but it's not like the people who farmed that food will have a chance to eat it.

And eventually, I spot a pegasus knight messenger flying towards us. My heart skips a beat when I think Edelgard's found us, but when he gets closer I can see that he's one of ours. He lands on the ground in front of me and gets on one knee while handing me a letter. I don't have time to comment on how I want them to treat me like a regular person when I'm this curious about what could be inside. The seal has the house Goneril emblem, so this letter is either from Holst or Hilda. I hope that's a good sign. I open the letter and begin reading.

_Claude,_

_My apologies, but Derdriu has fallen. I could make all the excuses in the world, but none of them satisfy even me. Your professor is really something else. Lysithea and Hilda are safe, so don't worry about them. Nader was also instrumental in weakening the Imperial army and he almost turned the battle around on his own, but ultimately his efforts weren't enough and he was forced to retreat. He told me that he had never lost a battle before, so it sounds like this is his first. _

_Edelgard and Byleth know that the Kingdom army is marching into their territory, but I don't think they know about you yet. They're going personally and sending a small strike force for a couple reasons. First, their army suffered great losses at Derdriu and they need some soldiers to remain and garrison the city. Second, they do seem intent on trying to protect their people and want to deal with the burning and pillaging Kingdom army as soon as they can, which requires ending a force that's small and mobile. This gives you one more shot to take out Edelgard when she's not standing behind a massive army. Take her out and the Empire crumbles. I'm sorry to leave this to you, and I can only hope that you finish what we started. _

_Come back alive, okay? If something happens to you, I won't know what to tell Nader._

_-Holst Goneril_

I read over the letter a couple of times without saying anything. When I look up, the entire army's eyes are on me.

"Edelgard took Derdriu and is now on the way to fight the Kingdom army," I say. "We're the wild card in this equation, so let's make our element of surprise count."

A series of nods meet me. I wonder if they have the same doubts that I do about potentially joining forces with such a ruthless army. If we do kill Edelgard and Byleth here and the Kingdom army is allowed to keep rampaging, the common people living in Adrestia will pay the price. If I do ally with the mystery Blaiddyd army, I must keep them under control.

And that's not even mentioning the instability that Edelgard's death with no heir will cause in the Empire. I imagine local lords uprising and vying for power, fighting battles against neighbors until the fire of war spreads across all of Adrestia. And then I have a better idea.

I instruct my soldiers to capture Edelgard if they can. We can use her as leverage to broker a peace deal that doesn't rely on us marching into the Empire and putting out fires started by ambitious nobles. As always, I'm surprised at how willing they are to follow my commands. I hope that if I do have an idiot idea at some point, people will tell me.

When we draw near to the Kingdom army and I can start to see flags in the distance, fog sets in. I mutter a curse under my breath. I tell the soldiers to keep advancing, since we can't afford to lose the trail of the Kingdom army now. As we make our way through the mist, I begin to recognize the scenery. We're coming up to Gronder Field, where we fought the Battle of Eagle and Lion back when we were students at the monastery. Everyone else has fond memories of the competition and celebration while I was busy sulking that Byleth bested me again.

Riding up to the field where we fought as classmates makes me wonder if fate is real. And if it is, why it wants to play us for cruel twists. Marianne, Raphael, Judith, Dimitri. I will win for their sakes. Byleth has bullshit anime protagonist powers, but I must find a way to take them down. Rhea almost killed them at the Battle of Garreg Mach five years ago, so I know they're not invincible even with the goddess's power.

The fog beings to clear, and I can hear armies marching nearby. Ignatz asks me if we should try to fortify here, which isn't a bad idea.

"There's a ballista in the center of the field that I can operate," Ignatz says. "Can't be too different from shooting a bow."

"The center of the field will be the middle of the action if a fight breaks out," I say. "I don't want you on the front lines."

"Someone has to be, Claude. Does my life mean more than any other soldier you put in my place?"

I don't have an answer for that. Ignatz smiles and pats me on the shoulder.

"It makes me happy to see how much you care about us," he says. "Don't worry, Claude. If the situation looks dire I'll drop my weapons and surrender."

"You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?"

"I will follow your commands. However, this is what I came here to do."

Fuck. Well, time to hope for a miracle. I can't force him to stay back and carry the regret of not chasing after a key battle objective for the rest of his life, but I bite my lip when I think about my roommate back at Earth high school. If Ignatz here dies, the sweet kid who put up with my dimension-hopping shenanigans is toast as well.

"Think about Maya," I say. "And make sure that she doesn't have to lose her best friend as well as her brother. Okay?"

"I will. Thank you for allowing me to do this, Claude."

Ignatz takes a group of soldiers up to the ballista, which is ungarrisoned when he arrives. This will give us a tactical advantage if a fight does break out, but I recall how it didn't even slow Byleth down during the Battle of Eagle and Lion. Is it to much to hope for that I won't have to face them?

The rest of our soldiers line up in battle formation. Leonie will be giving most of the orders to the bulk of our army, and the way her voice carries across the field reminds me of the Knights of Seiros with decades of experience. Everyone around me is tense but focused, looking into the milky fog and ready to shoot what comes through.

The fog continues to fade, vanishing entirely in the span of a couple of minutes. I get a closer look at the Kingdom army to the west and see in the distance a blonde man with an eyepatch wearing dirtied animal furs. When he looks up at our army, the look of hunger and bloodlust on his face makes me pause. It's hard to make out details from this distance, which makes the fact that I can read his aggression even more concerning. Still, it can't be anyone I know, right? None of the Blue Lions students were like that.

Then to the north I see Edelgard's army arrive. Well, "army" is a bit of a strong word, since it's comprised of Edelgard, Byleth, the other Black Eagles students, their battalions, and a few legions of additional soldiers for support. But I'm not fooled. Edelgard and Byleth are one-person armies all on their own, and the ragtag strike force they brought along for speed purposes might be more of a threat than the Kingdom army.

"Kill every last one of them!"

The sound carries across the whole field, larger than life. It came from the Kingdom side, and I can see their soldiers charging forward. The voice is Dimitri's, which means…

I hear sounds of shuffling from the north and jerk my head over to see Edelgard pointing Aymr forward, and her soldiers begin their charge. As big class reunions go, this one's got to be the worst in history. Still, I can't back out now. Dimitri seems volatile at best, but fighting the Empire together gives us our best chance at victory. And with Derdriu fallen, this is my last chance to take a stand and protect my lands and the people living on them.

I give the command to advance. Time for one last fight against Edelgard and Byleth.

#

I fly up to the front lines on our western flank, which is in the direction of the Blue Lions army. We need to team up before anything else happens if we want a snowball's chance in hell at stopping Byleth's rampage. I give Omar a pat on the shoulder as we soar up to take a look at the battlefield.

That's strange. Dimitri's army is charging at us with spears and swords pointed our way, almost as if he wants to fight us. Shit. I fly down to the soldiers and see Leonie leading her horse in front of them, hand on her recurve bow and eyes narrowing at the Kingdom soldiers.

"Don't make the first attack," I say, "But be prepared to engage. I'll try to parley."

I snap the reins and direct Omar to fly towards the charging Kingdom army. The foot soldiers raise their shields at me, which isn't a good sign. How do I convince them that I'm not an enemy? I scan the ground below for important people when I catch a motion out of the corner of my eye. I jerk Omar out of the way in time for Ingrid to fly by on her pegasus, spearing the air where I was moments ago.

"What's wrong with you?" I say. "I thought you were fighting the Empire."

"Dimitri said to kill whoever's closest and not part of our army."

Another charge with her lance. I jerk Omar up and out of the way and ready my bow.

"And you _listened _to him?" I say.

"Being a knight is about following orders from your lord. It's nothing personal, Claude. Retreat if you don't want this to turn ugly."

Like hell I'm going to retreat. I need to talk to Dimitri and knock some sense into his pudding brain. I fire a few arrows at Ingrid. She dodges them, but they come close enough that she darts away. Must be hunting for easier prey. I don't bother giving chase, and instead scan the ground for Dimitri. It's not hard to find him, charging behind his soldiers with his glowing relic lance Areadbhar in hand. I swoop down out of reach of his lances, which his soldiers do raise at me, but close enough that he stops his charging to look at me.

"Claude. Get out of my way before I cut you down."

"You're already trying to slice us apart. Edelgard is that way." I point towards Byleth's strike force. "Let's team up against her, okay?"

"I don't care. You're all the same to me."

"I'm the same as the people who framed you for murder and tried to have you executed?"

Dimitri's eye twitches. He lets out a roar and lunges at me. He jumps higher than I expect and his lance is longer than I realized, but I manage to yank Omar up and away from Areadbhar's tip before it cuts open his stomach.

"You don't know me, Claude. You never did."

"And yet I'm still better than the Empire. If nothing else, we're more soldiers to die weakening them. But you have to stop your soldiers from killing us in order to do our part."

Dimitri snarls. He glances over at Byleth's forces, who are advancing while surveying the situation.

"Kill the Imperials first," Dimitri says. "We'll deal with the other rats later."

A series of nods, and lances point towards the Empire army. Dimitri barks at them to charge and they run off to the north. I let myself exhale and fly back over to Leonie. She has our troops moving towards Byleth and the Black Eagles, but is keeping a fortified flank between us and the Kingdom army.

"They should be on our side for now," I say. "Try to support, but also keep your distance. Dimitri might resume his onslaught against us if we do defeat Edelgard."

"Got it. Our soldiers' lives are my first priority, but if I see an opening I'm going for Byleth for betraying Captain Jeralt."

"Suppose that's all I can ask for. Stay alert."

I fly north towards the center of the field. It's a good thing Ignatz didn't fire the ballista at Dimitri's forces. As I approach, he keeps firing into the lines of Byleth's army, though the Black Eagles have so few soldiers with them that most of the shots go wide. Still, it's doing a good job at dissuading Byleth from charging right in. That bought time might be what we need.

I have Omar drop me on top of the fort and I run down the stairs into the weapons area where Ignatz sits with the ballista. He lets out a cry of surprise but takes his hand off his blade hilt when he sees me.

"Sorry for the scare," I say. "The Kingdom army is a tentative ally. Keep on firing at the Black Eagles. If you think you see yourself starting to get surrounded, run."

"Oh, I did need to tell you," Ignatz says. "Do you recognize those, Claude?"

He points over to some barrels in the corner of the room. They're the explosive ones I've seen Byleth's students use for the blaze gambit that battalions can perform.

"Too bad we don't have time to set up a strategy with them," I say. "If we had a catapult we could lob them at the enemy."

"Right, but there's still one potential use," Ignatz says. "If I think that this fort is going down and I'm surrounded by enemies, then…"

"No. You are not blowing yourself up to take out our opponents. If you're in danger, you _run. _Got it?"

A pause. "I understand."

I'm not convinced he's going to follow commands, but I don't have time to be drilling this into his thick skull. I dart out one of the ground entrances of the fort and see Byleth's army charging towards us. So much for the ballista keeping them at bay. It does make sense, though. While they thought we were fighting Dimitri's army, they could dance outside the ballista's effective range and wait for a better time to strike. But now they have to charge, and if they move quickly enough they can overwhelm the ballista.

I hear noise coming from my right and left, and the Kingdom army charges to meet Byleth and the Black Eagles. Ignatz keeps his aim on the mages in the back line, and part of me hopes that he kills Hubert. I'm guessing Byleth won't allow that with their turn back time ability, but we have to burn those uses one way or another anyway.

Sylvain and Felix charge forward past the fort, each leading a squadron of soldiers while Mercedes follows behind and heals wounded warriors with white magic. I look up and see Ingrid leading a group of pegasus knights. Aerial warfare has to be where we get our advantages from. Byleth may be skilled enough to stop even a cavalry rampage from reaching their back lines, but there's nothing that their small army can do to stop pegasus knights from ripping through their ranks.

Except…

Right on cue, a volley of arrows goes up, taking out a handful of Ingrid's pegasus knights. I grit my teeth and burst into motion. A quick scan of the field tells me that there's only one legion of archers in Byleth's army, and leading them is Bernadetta. She never seemed like the type to keep firm command of her battalion, so there's a chance for me to create chaos.

A blast of magic erupts in the ground next to me, which is my cue to get moving. Flying will make me a target for the archers, so I advance towards the front lines on foot. I see the Kingdom and Empire armies clashing ahead of me, with Leonie's troops providing cover fire and Ignatz blasting them with ballista bolts while Hubert and Dorothea's mages send bolts of lightning and dark energy into the Kingdom lines.

Steel ringing on steel. Explosions that shake the earth. Screams. I don't have time to focus on any of them. I skirt around the two clashing armies and run towards Bernadetta's archer corps. I move through nearby foliage to avoid notice, which slows me down. Still, I don't dare look back to see how the fight is progressing.

Eventually, I'm crouching in the underbrush with a clear shot at Bernadetta. Inhale, exhale. I ready my aim with Failnaught.

And then I realize what I'm about to do. If I shoot to kill, a real person back on Earth will die along with this version of Bernadetta. I've come to terms with killing, but Earth Bernadetta is a civilian who has nothing to do with any of this mess. And I can't shoot to take her out of the fight by injury since she'll be back on her feet after a heal from Linhardt. Funny how healing magic on the battlefield can make fights deadlier since incapacitation is no longer an option.

I don't have a choice, do I? Even if I end up being on the wrong side of history, I've come too far to back down now.

I nock an arrow and fire. Fallen star.

I watch the arrow soar through the air, coated in the darkness of the relic weapon's magic. Bernadetta doesn't see the arrow before it hits her and she drops.

I did it. I killed-

Time freezes and colors turn to dark greys and blues. Divine pulse. I let out a mental scream as I see time rewind and Bernadetta stands back up. When time returns to normal, I nock the arrow again to see Byleth sprinting towards me. I fire the shot, and Byleth shoves Bernadetta to the side. They take the arrow to the shoulder and don't even flinch.

God, I'm fighting against a machine.

Byleth yanks the arrow out of their body. Not a good move under most conditions since it leads to more blood loss, but white magic coats their wound and it disappears moments later. Skilled white mages can heal across the battlefield, so it's no wonder that Linhardt can keep his allies alive without me being able to see him.

I scramble back further into the woods as Byleth runs towards me. If I can make it to the other side, I should be able to call Omar and get out of here. I look back over my shoulder to see Byleth gaining on me, their Sword of the Creator glowing. I meet their gaze for a second, and their icy cold eyes take me back to the battle at Garreg Mach five years ago.

Is this where I die?

The links of Byleth's blade stretch out into whip form, and the air around me becomes a blur as blade links slice back and forth. One of the slashes swings by my chest, and I can feel the tip of it slicing open my skin like a paper cut. A few inches deeper and I might be dead from that. When the links of Byleth's whipsword reform into a blade shape, the trees around us fall and I realized that they sliced through all of them.

I've never seen them use the Sword of the Creator's combat art Ruptured Heaven before. Now I know what I'm in for.

The good news is that I have an open sky now thanks to all the fallen trees. I loose an arrow to keep Byleth occupied and let out a shrill whistle. Seconds later, Omar swoops down and I hop onto his back. I direct him up and away from Byleth, and when I look back I see them regarding me with a neutral expression. I'm surprised that they didn't try another attack.

I wonder if it's worth trying to take down Bernadetta again so Ingrid's forces can advance. Looks like I'll need to assess the situation at large again. I fly over to the front lines, swerving to dodge a few stray arrows. There, I see the Kingdom army falling back. Sylvian, Dimitri, and Felix are in full retreat. Ingrid is nowhere to be seen, and I don't spot any of her pegasus warriors in the sky. I hope she feel back when the volleys of arrows thrown her way became too much to deal with.

A shattered retreat for the Kingdom army must mean they got their asses handed to them, given how ready they were to charge into battle. And in such a quick amount of time, even with me keeping Byleth occupied. The retreat is disorganized, and I see Leonie holding the line for our soldiers so that the Kingdom troops can't march through our ranks and disrupt our formation. The tactic works, and they go around us on their way off the battlefield.

I fire some arrows at the Imperial forces chasing after the retreating army. I know it's standard warfare tactics to cut off and slaughter retreating enemies since actual battles have fairly low casualties, but after all of Edelgard's platitudes about wanting to help the people of Fódlan it's hard for me to stay calm enough to keep my aim steady. I see her advancing towards the fleeing Kingdom soldiers in full Imperial armor rather than atop a wyvern. Even with most of the Kingdom troops in disarray, she's shouldn't be quick enough to catch most of them, but her combat art raging storm gives her a burst of inhuman speed after she uses it, allowing her to cleave through large swaths of her foes and keep in hot pursuit. I see her chasing a group of healers and have Omar follow her. If this world had Geneva conventions, she'd be violating them by attacking field medics. Time to see if I can put an arrow in her throat and watch her life force bleed away.

One of the priests whirls around and blasts Edelgard with a burst of fire that ignites the grass around her. She steps through the flames looking singed but not slowing down. This is the Flame Emperor I could have stopped if I had seen that she was more than a regular insurgent. I have Omar dive towards the scene of battle, and I recognize the face of the white mage who attacked Edelgard.

Mercedes. Even now, her combat posture wavers, and she grimaces when she looks at the burn scars on Edelgard's skin. Back on Earth, Mercedes told me that she's the empathic type. I can't imagine what it must be like for her to be flinching and recoiling at every attack she throws out.

Mercedes unleashes another spell, and the ground beneath Edelgard erupts into lava. The molten spray catches the Adrestian Emperor, but Edelgard darts out of the way of most of it. She's almost to Mercedes now, and I can tell that I won't be in time to stop her.

Instead of running, Mercedes looks back at the other healers, who are now well out of Edelgard's reach. Edelgard raises her axe Aymr, and Mercedes closes her eyes. I can see tears spilling out of her closed eyelids, but she doesn't look afraid.

Please.

Edelgard brings Aymr down on Mercedes.

This time, I try to stay in control of myself. Mercedes isn't someone I swore to protect, and I should be used to this by now. But before I know it, I'm screaming and firing shots down at Edelgard. She smirks as the arrows punch through her armor. She walks towards me, and healing magic coats her burn marks. They disappear in seconds.

"Why?" I say. "She wasn't a threat to you."

"Then what were those fire and bolganone spells for? She got in my way to make sure the rest of the Kingdom had healers so they could drag this war out. Her little stunt will likely cost thousands of lives as they rampage through more villages, so I lost myself in anger. You're no different, you know."

"Monster. Don't claim to care about anyone other than yourself after starting this war. How many people in the Kingdom are starving because of you, do you think?"

"I have nothing to do with Cornelia's rule."

"Why bother with that excuse? I know you're a pathological liar. And it looks like you're a sociopath as well. So does the rush of blood when you murder someone give you something to live for?"

Edelgard smiles. "Thanks for chatting, Claude. Time to say goodbye."

A distraction. I swerve Omar to the side in time as an axe whizzes past my shoulder. I glance over to see long hair braided in the pattern of Brigid. Petra turns her wyvern around and meets my gaze. Her hunter's eyes tell me that she means business, and if she's here more support must be on the way. Time to make myself scarce.

I fire one last shot at Edelgard before flying off. The arrow goes wide, and I hear her laughing as I let the winds carry me away. The Kingdom army has almost entirely retreated by now, and the only soldiers left are those who are wounded and can't escape as quickly as the others.

"We'll get her later, Omar," I say. "For now, let's focus on keeping our people alive."

Marianne, Raphael, Judith, Mercedes. And if I'm not careful, there could be more names that I need to add to the list.

Ignatz. Is he still in the fort? I fly back over to see Edelgard and Byleth advancing towards the stronghold. Ballista bolts keep firing from inside, so Ignatz must still be in there. Edelgard and Byleth walk inside. I have Omar go faster, but I know there's no way Ignatz stands a chance against the two of them. Even if I can make it there, we still lose that fight.

Without warning, the fort explodes, expelling bits of rock in all directions. I jerk the reins to have Omar make a sharp turn before I can fully process what's happening. Rocks pelt me and Omar lets out a cry of pain. And then-

Frozen. Grey and blue. Another Divine Pulse.

The world rewinds, and I'm back with Edelgard standing over Mercedes' dead body. This time, I take off without a word. One nice side effect of Byleth turning back time is that it did erase the wounds I took from the explosion. Byleth might be able to adjust based on the situation, but so can I.

I fly over to the fort to see Byleth dashing for the entrance. They don't notice me, and I unleash another Fallen star shot from Failnaught that takes them right in the chest. Another Divine Pulse activates, and we're back to a few seconds ago without me having the element of surprise. How many times can Byleth use that damn power in a single fight

I have Omar dive towards the fort. By the time I reach the entrance, Byleth is walking out with Ignatz following her. His hands are in the air, and he has a cut on his arm that's still bleeding. When Byleth sees me, they hold the Sword of the Creator up to Ignatz's throat.

"Fire an arrow and he goes down with me," They say.

"I know you'll rewind time instead."

"Ah, I forgot you were aware of my little secret. Fly back to your army and tell Leonie to surrender. I prefer not to harm someone else who sees my father as a parent figure."

"Sorry, Claude," Ignatz says. "I was planning to detonate the fortress, but I couldn't even do that right."

"Don't think about that right now. Do what the Imperials tell you to and stay alive. I'll try to get you out later."

I fly off without acknowledging Byleth's request. Honestly, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I didn't see the details of how the Kingdom army got demolished, but I can't imagine that our forces stand a much better chance.

Omar starts to slow down by the time I make it back to the main army. I give him a pat on the shoulder as he descends, and I land him next to Leonie. She acknowledges me with a nod and resumes staring out at the battlefield with a clenched jaw.

"Things are looking bad," I say. "What happened to the Kingdom army?"

"Sloppy and unorganized," Leonie says. "It doesn't matter how skilled their knights are when they have a leader and we don't. Take out Byleth and the entire Adrestian army collapses."

Coup de grace, coup d'état. There's something to what Leonie is saying, but she doesn't understand how hard it is to kill Byleth. I still have no idea how many times they can use Divine Pulse without running out of energy. Maybe three's their limit, or they could have dozens more. With the power of the goddess on their side, anything's possible.

"You're not about to tell us to give up now, are you?" Lenoie says, studying my expression. "We followed you all this way to get a taste of the action, and we have yet to prove our mettle. Besides, throwing down our weapons is an easy way to get slaughtered."

"You have that little trust in Edelgard and Byleth?"

"Tell me, Claude. Did they give Marianne a chance to surrender? How about Raphael? Judith?"

Edelgard said that she did try to convince Judith to surrender, but she also said that she had nothing to do with Cornelia's rule when I know she worked with Those Who Slither in the Dark as the Flame Emperor, so I can't trust her words. I saw Edelgard strike Judith down when she was alone and a non-threat. I saw Hubert kill Raphael to rile me up. I saw Byleth refuse to rewind time and save Marianne. And here today I see Edelgard cutting down a defenseless Mercedes.

Leonie is right. The Adrestian Empire forced us into this corner, and now they have to deal with us lashing out.

"So can I give the order?" Leonie says.

"Go ahead. Let's make this last shot count."

She shouts the command to charge, and the way my ears ring tells me she has a better military voice than I do. I run a hand over the smooth scales on Omar's neck. He looks back at me with his reptilian eyes, and I can't help but smile. We're in this until the end. With Derdriu fallen, we have nothing left to lose.

I snap the reins, and Omar takes off into the sky. I can trust Leonie to command the Daphnel troops, since it seems like she has a knack for it. Many of them are mounted archers with recurve bows that remind me of the Mongol warriors I read about while bored in elementary school. The way they strafe back and forth while firing off shots looks difficult for the Imperial soldiers to deal with. If the Adrestians try to charge, they're running at an army that can reposition in a moment. And if they try to turtle up, they get worn down by constant arrow fire.

And then I blasts of magic tearing through our troops. Right, the Mongols didn't have to worry about that when they were pillaging Asia. I should do something about that. Plus, it's long past time I dealt with Hubert.

I search for him while flying overhead and firing arrows down into the Imperial army. Despite their high morale, it does look like they've suffered heavy losses, and it's not hard to pick out Hubert from the crowd. He commands a legion of dark mages that fire "volleys" of their own magic and leave entire parts of the battlefield covered in what looks like dark, goopy acid.

"I was wondering when you'd show your face," Hubert says. "Not ready to give up yet? I have ways of… persuading you to beg for mercy. It wouldn't do to have the commoners rioting after your death, now would it?"

I grunt and swerve around a lightning bolt from Dorothea. I hope I don't have to fight her as well. The crackling sound leaves my ears ringing as I nock an arrow. Hubert looks up at me and smirks.

A giant bolt flies through the air and slams into Omar's side, right next to my leg. Omar lets out a cry and starts falling. I yank on the reins but it's no use. The ballista. How could I have forgotten about the damn ballista? Omar and I plummet to the ground together, and my vision turns red with pain as I hear a crunch sound. Were those my bones? Endorphins should keep my limbs active long enough to escape, so I don't have a way of telling for sure.

My vision returns and I'm still holding onto Failnaught. I hop to my feet in time to dodge a blast of dark magic from Hubert. No time to prepare a fancy combat art. I fire two arrows in rapid succession. The first goes wide, but the second nails him right by the waist. He hisses like a snake and runs off before I can shoot more.

I want to pursue, but that could be a waste of time or lead me into a trap. I want to check up on Omar, but there's nothing I can do to help him at this point. All I can do is make sure the rest of my army is standing strong. I grit my teeth and run towards the active battle zone. I fire more arrows, and I can tell that Failnaught's bowstring is about to snap. These fancy relic weapons weren't made with durability in mind, but I can hope it gives me enough shots to take down Byleth.

I'm behind lines in the Adrestian army, which means I have to take out anyone who notices me so that Byleth's army can't collapse on me and rid themselves of the Alliance leader. I aim to injure by aiming at the legs, but I do hit the stomach of one poor soldier as my worn bowstring makes my shots fly wide. I hope Lindardt heals her before it's too late, but I can't focus on that right now.

I make it to the front lines to see that the Alliance forces are scattered and in disarray. And somehow, as always, Byleth and their students look mostly untouched. I didn't notice Byleth use Divine Pulse, but perhaps I can only feel the effects when I'm close to them.

One of the few remaining soldiers charging at the Black Eagles is Leonie. She slings her bow over her shoulder, pulls out a lance and shield, and kicks her horse into a sprint straight towards Byleth. Ferdinand charges towards her on his own horse, and a swing of his axe against her shield throws her off her mount. Her horse panics and runs off. She snarls at Byleth, tosses aside her shield, and runs towards them with her lance in both hands.

I ready my bow to provide cover fire, but a pair of soldiers charge at me and I'm forced to take them down before they can slice my throat open. During this time, Leonie attempts to stab Byleth, who darts to the side and grabs onto Leonie's lance. They pull the weapon in and Leonie is sent stumbling forward. A slice to her arm makes her drop the lance, and Byleth holds the tip of the Sword of the Creator up to Leonie's stomach.

"Hands up," Byleth says.

"Why did you side with Captain Jeralt's killers?" Leonie says. "Answer me, traitor."

"Your time here is done. Hands up. I won't tell you again."

Leonie spits and reaches at her waist for a knife. Byleth rams the Sword of the Creator through her stomach. Leonie's eyes widen. She opens her mouth, but no sound comes out.

No. Not again. Not two in the same day. I can't-

Byleth draws their sword out, and Leonie's body crumples to the ground.

Why? Leonie was surrounded and armed only with a knife. What did she think she was going to do? I'm too tired to scream. I draw an arrow and release an arrow using my Fallen Star combat art. The bowstring snaps as the arrow flies through the air and slams into Byleth's shoulder. I see them inhale, which is more of a reaction than I got out of them before. They turn around to face me, and I hear footsteps behind me. I whirl around to see Caspar, bladed gauntlets braced for combat.

"Too bad about your bow," he says. "Why don't you surrender and save us both the trouble?"

No hope of escape, no hope of victory. Once again, I led my friends to their deaths and I have nothing to show for it.

I drop broken Failnaught to the ground and hold my hands in the air.

Byleth walks over to me, arrow still in their shoulder. I glance around and see that many of the other Alliance soldiers surrendered, and a few are retreating. They and the Kingdom army have nowhere to go now. I hope the Empire lets them surrender, but it's out of my hands at this point.

My little stint in Fódlan is done. Game over.

"That was a hopeless shot, you know," Byleth says. "Worse than hopeless. If you killed me, you were going to be dead meat once Edelgard found you."

"I remember you asking me to kill you if you ever turned into a demonic beast. That was a convincing act, you know. Pretending like you understand fear."

Their gaze goes to the ground. "I didn't want it to come to this, Claude."

"Bullshit. If you cared about stopping a war, you wouldn't have started one."

A pause. After a battle that filled my ears with shouts, screams, and clanging metal, the silence is eerie.

"I suppose you're right," Byleth says. "I'm powerful enough that my decisions and actions speak for themselves. Which brings us to what we're going to do with you."

"You going to let Hubert torture me? On Earth that would be a war crime."

"And yet it was the trademark of the US government's invasion of Iraq. And I'm glad you brought up Earth, Claude. Because I'm going to send you back there."

"Uh…" Caspar glances between me and Byleth. "Should I have heard of these places before?"

"Don't sweat it," Byleth says. "Claude, toss your sword charm on the ground. Don't make any sudden movements if you value your life."

I do as I'm told. Even if I want to cause more trouble for them, now isn't the time. Byleth walks over and picks up the Falchion charm while maintaining eye contact with me for the entire duration. They study the Falchion pendant for a few seconds.

"Thales broke it five years ago, right?" they say.

"Why does the timing matter?"

"Answer the question, Claude."

"Yeah. Almost five years ago."

A bubble appears around the pendant, and everything inside is the same dark color that the world is when Byleth uses Divine Pulse. I look around, but nobody else seems to see anything odd. After a few seconds, the bubble vanishes, and Byleth tosses the charm back to me. I catch the necklace part of it and raise an eyebrow at them.

"I figured out how to apply my power locally to a small object," they say. "Can't do it for bigger entities, and it can't bring creatures back to life. I tried it on one of the rats in the monastery."

So they rewound only the pendant to a state before Thales deactivated its dimension-hopping powers? Which means…

I can go back to Earth.

"Can your regular Divine Pulse take things back that far?" I say.

"If it could, I'd have solved our problems before they spiraled out of control. What I did here was more of a weird trick. Think a video game physics exploit."

All right, now everyone else must be convinced we're speaking in another language.

"Go home, Claude," Byleth says, "And don't come back."

"It looks like I don't have much of a choice here," I say, "I can promise that I won't fight you here in Fódlan so long as no more Golden Deer or Blue Lions students from our class die. The moment one of them does, I'll be back to hunting you."

"You're not exactly in a position to make demands, Claude. But I can agree, since I do owe you one for helping me deal with those bandits. I'll make sure to let Edelgard and the others know that the other students must be taken alive."

At least this way I have some sort of leverage over Byleth. Despite everything that's happened, I have to appreciate them recharging my pendant's power. They have to trust me at my word that I won't cause any more trouble for them, since I could easily pop back over here after they left and continue my resistance.

And if the other students aren't in danger while the Alliance is no more, I don't have a reason for ever coming back here. So I guess this is my goodbye to Fódlan. I debate saying farewell to Byleth, but I'm not going to pretend to be friends with them after their army killed people I care about.

I grab onto my pendant and begin transporting myself back to Earth. Byleth keeps their steady gaze pointed at me for the entire time. And sure enough, after about a minute the world goes white. It's time to go home.

Marianne, Raphael, Judith, Mercedes, Leonie…

I'm sorry I couldn't save you.

* * *

**Hey everyone! I had to work on drafting up my NSF GRFP fellowship application (prestigious award for science grad school that will give me 3 years of funding if I get it but it's like SUPER hard to get), so it was nice to get back to this. I'm going to take a break in November to do national novel writing month so I hope I can make some good progress before then. These fics always take longer than I expect to finish. **

**And let me tell you that trying to put meme jokes and serious character death in the same chapter makes me feel weird. But that's fanfic, I guess. Byleth is so canonically OP that it's fun writing about the poor people caught on the other side of the battlefield as them. **

**Next chapter we'll see what's changed on Earth over the past five years for Claude. I always have a hard time writing battles so for me at least it will be a nice break. **

**Hope you all have a wonderful day! :D **


	26. Chapter 21: Home?

The world reforms around me as a forest. Back home. Not that I ever belonged here more than I did in Fódlan. Brown, bi, aromantic, nonbinary, and scorned by family isn't a good combo for having this world accept me. But I should be practical right now. My muscles are still sore from the fight. I should stretch them and find some place to take a nap.

When I move my arms, I realize I have an assault rifle in my hands. Oh, right. I appear back in the spot where I left, keeping all the same equipment. And five years ago, I was defending my high school from…

Shit. I forgot that I'm a wanted criminal here for standing against Thales' corrupt cops. Good thing I only promised Byleth not to fight them in Fódlan and said nothing about returning as a noncombatant. Not that I want to be a civilian in an active war zone, but my chances might end up being better there than here.

I check my cell phone, which has the date as being five years ago, the same day that I jaunted over to Fódlan. My signal's weak out here, and I'm not connected to the internet so I'm guessing it will recalibrate once I get back into the city. It couldn't hurt to explore a bit. I leave my assault rifle by a tree that has another smaller tree grafted onto it and make note of my path out of the woods. I don't feel great about leaving a dangerous weapon where anyone could find it, but I feel worse about walking around town openly carrying a military-grade weapon.

I emerge next to Garreg Mach high school. Or, at least, what should be the school. Instead I'm confronted by a shopping center with various general-use stores. I'm confident that the school was here, and the surrounding buildings are still the same, so what gives?

I see what looks like a straight couple walking towards the mall. Both of them are wearing face masks, which makes me pause. I guess they're sick and worried about spreading their cold or flu? I know countries in East Asia are big on that, but I've always assumed that Americans were too selfish to follow.

I put on my smile face as I approach them. Good news is that I somehow don't have any blood on me this time, and I guess none of my bones broke from that fall considering that I'm still walking without pain. So without the dirt on my face, I bet I look normal. The couple crosses the street when I walk towards them and continues on the other sidewalk. Whatever.

Another person approaches, also wearing a mask. Huh. Again, I do my best to look non-threatening. She furrows her eyebrows when she sees me. Oh boy, here we go again.

"Please put on a mask when you go outside," she says.

I blink. "The air quality doesn't seem that bad."

She scoffs. "Don't try to play this off. And it's wrong to joke about something like that when the air quality is dangerous on the west coast."

"What's happening there?"

She stares at me. "How have you not heard? The wildfires. People say that the smoke is coming our way."

Something to look into, at least. And considering that I doubt I can get information from her about why I should be wearing a mask, I think that's about all I have to ask. I thank her for her time, and she gives me the stink eye as I walk past her.

There was something odd about her annoyance with me. I'm used to racism, and it's usually easy to tell when people are being an asshole to you as a power move. Even when people say they're "scared" of us, it's easy to see what's going on in their mind. But that woman seemed genuinely appalled about the mask bit. I find an out of the way bench and start googling based on what's happened in the past five years.

And despite what happened in Fódlan, I'm not prepared for what I read. Worsening tensions between North and South Korea. A hurricane that devastated Puerto Rico, and the government refused to send aid that could have saved thousands of American lives. The US military abandoning our Kurdish allies and letting Turkey hunt them down, same as our Hmong allies in Vietnam 45 years ago. The US government starting concentration camps where civilians continue to be abused, starved, and sterilized. I can't say I'm surprised considering how the US threw Japanese immigrants into similar concentration camps in the 40s, but my fingers are shaking after I finish reading articles.

And then comes the bombshells of what's been happening over the past year. A virus that's killed 200,000 Americans with testing and response being intentionally slowed down. Police brutality being recorded and broadcast leading to people protesting in the streets.

The events do make sense. The pandemic response has shades of how the US treated the AIDS epidemic in the 80s, and large-scale protests and resistance demanding racial justice are hardly new. But taking it in all at once is still hard to come to terms with. There's even more material on controversies involving the president and supreme court that I scroll past because I can't deal with everything right now.

So I guess this world went up in flames like Fódlan soon after I left. I wonder if the state I saw Dimitri in reflects how he's doing here. I dial up his number and get no response. I call a second and then a third time. Nothing. I wonder if he switched phone numbers, but that doesn't seem likely. More probable is that he has it off for whatever reason right now. Maybe he has a job and is in an important meeting. I don't know if I believe that, but it's what I'm telling myself.

Next down the list is Dorothea. She should still be in good health, since the Fódlan version of all the Black Eagles students decided to side with Byleth. I dial her number and after a few seconds I hear someone pick up.

"This had better not be an elaborate prank." It's Dorothea's voice.

"Those are the first words you have for an old friend?"

"Claude. Where the fuck have you been in the past five years? We were all worried sick about you."

Aww. In Fódlan, even my friends didn't worry about how I was doing. That wasn't their job, and I couldn't be weak around them when they were expecting me to lead them into battle. And honestly, I have no idea how I kept up that act for so long. I'm still closer to the crying child in Lucina's arms than the Alliance Leader I was supposed to be. I want to melt into Dorotha's arms and have her tell me everything's going to be okay.

"It's a long story," I say. "I've been off the grid. I did a quick google search about what's happened in the past five years and stumbled on some… interesting results."

"Oh god, you have to take in the last four years at once. I'm amazed you're capable of speaking after that."

"It helps that I was somewhere worse."

Though… was I? Even as a bloody war consumed Fódlan, none of us threw civilians into concentration camps. Not even Cornelia. America has always been the timeline where forces like Those Who Slither in the Dark won, and it's finally revealing its true colors.

"Oh you poor thing," Dorothea says. "Where are you right now? I have an apartment in Austin. If you're close at all, you can crash at my place for as long as you need. I don't have any roommates, so no need to worry about pissing them off."

"Living the good life, huh? I'm in Iowa. Right by where our school used to be. It got replaced by a shopping mall, looks like."

A pause. "Where exactly were you these past five years?"

"Like I said, it's a long story."

"Does this have anything to do with you being covered in blood even before the police raided the school five years ago?"

"Okay, who did you get that information from and how much context did they give you?"

"Lysithea. I know Ignatz and Ashe were close to getting hurt, and they were traumatized by it. She was the only one who kept cool through the whole situation. Well, other than you."

"And what about Dimitri?"

"After the situation calmed down, he disappeared as well. None of us have heard from him since."

I take a deep breath. If he's alive in Fódlan despite being declared dead, he should be in the same position here. No need to panic.

"I don't know if you'll believe me, but I've been travelling to a different dimension," I say.

"Oh, so she was right."

I frown, and then remember that Dorothea can't catch the motion. "What did Lysithea tell you?"

"Well, that you've been going to an alternate reality, and that the person who attacked our school is from there. She thought you went over there to escape being prosecuted after you disappeared and we couldn't find you."

"She's a smart cookie. I should send her sweets to thank her for helping me out in that situation. Given how aggressive the cops were acting, she probably saved my life."

And Dimitri's as well, since I can see him lunging at the cops after they shoot me. And as the cops have shown, nothing "scares" them more than an unarmed teenager.

"I can send you her address. She's from the Pacific Northwest like you, so you could even visit her in person. Though probably not a good idea with the pandemic."

"Yeah. I heard that 200,000 people died?"

"It's been brutal in Texas, though Austin's not as bad as some other places. Like I said, you're welcome to crash here if you can make it."

I'm pretty sure I can never get on a plane again, but taking the bus could be an option. That is, assuming that my mom didn't empty my bank account that she had legal control over, which she probably did. I don't have a home here, and Byleth sent me back anyway. So what's the plan now? Do I try to change my identity and look for a job while being homeless?

"Oh, you should probably call that chick that stalked me and was asking me about you," Dorothea says. "Seriously, you're popular with a bunch of beautiful women and it's like you don't even care."

"I care about my friends a lot. And who's this person?"

"Some gorgeous Asian girl. Lucy? "

"Lucina?"

"Yeah, that's the one. She checks in with me any so often asking if I've heard anything from you. A lot of the time it seems like she's off the grid, though. Leave a message and she'll get to it."

Is Lucina really that hot? I guess she is, but it's weird to think about my babysitter that way.

"So you're attracted to her, but you didn't hit it off."

"You know how it is. Girls are too nice to each other and it's hard to tell when someone's into you." I hear a sigh to the other end. "Actually, that's a lie. She was business the whole time. Where's Claude? What do I know about Claude? What other friends does he have that she can get info from? You're lucky to have someone like her who's so devoted to you."

"Yeah, I'm grateful to have her watching over me. And your support means a lot to me too."

So Lucina's been looking for me, but no sign of Dimitri. Tracking him down might be harder than I think.

"Aw, thanks. I wasn't trying to farm gratitude, I promise. When I'm down I still think back to our homecoming dance to cheer myself up."

"You mean the one where I abandoned you in the middle of it?"

"I leave out that part when I replay it in my mind. But thanks for reminding me about that."

A grin comes to my face. Her dry tone tells me that she doesn't actually mind. I've missed having friends I can joke around with. Fódlan might be where I'm capable of making a difference, but here is where I can be myself.

"All right, I might give Lucina a call right after this. Thanks, Dorothea. If I run out of ideas I might take you up on your offer. Let me know if you get any sign of Dimitri, okay?"

"I'll keep my eyes peeled, but don't expect anything. I'll want to talk with you later but for now it sounds like you have some planning to do."

We exchange goodbyes and I hang up. It takes me a few seconds to pull the phone away from my ear. I can't keep extending the length of a cold call or else I'll come off as desperate and clingy. And hey, maybe I am, but that shouldn't be her problem.

Next I dial Lucina's number. One ring, two rings, three rings. Right as I'm about to give up and hang up, I hear someone pick up on the other end.

"Hello?" The intensity in her voice makes me pause. "Claude, is it you?"

"I finished this whole thing with Dorothea. Yes it's me. I've been catching myself up on what's happened over the last five years."

"Claude. You're alive. I was so worried…"

I could stop her here since I heard this all from Dorothea, but I let her keep going. Maybe I shouldn't need her words, but it's nice to feel cared for. She goes on for a while about how happy she is that I'm here and safe. I know the stereotype of gruff men who turn into total softies around their mothers, and now I get it. There's nothing that can replace having somebody to lean on and look up to.

Lucina asks where I am, and I give her a run-down of the situation.

"I am going to fly right over there and pick you up," she says. "We're living in upstate New York right now. The pandemic's pretty bad, but our county is doing its best to stay safe even with college kids piling in."

Huh. A college town might not be a bad place to crash for a while. I still need to figure out if I can carve out a life here despite being a wanted criminal, and being surrounded by dumb partying kids is a good of a choice as any. It's funny that the last time I was here, college kids represented the next step in my life. Now most of them are younger than me.

"I don't want you to rush," I say.

"And where are you going to stay if I don't?"

"Out in the woods, I guess."

"Exactly. Oh, look. There's a flight that takes off from the Ithaca airport in a few hours that still has empty seats. I can go through Chicago and end up in Des Moines. I've already bought a ticket for myself."

"Thank you so much, Lu. If you need me to pay you back at any point I can try to work something out."

"Don't worry about it. I don't let people I care about sleep alone in the woods."

"But sleeping in the woods when you're with someone else is okay?"

"Hey, that's what I had to do when apocalypse was raining down from the sky. See you in a bit, Claude. I'll text you with updates."

After saying goodbyes, she hangs up to go pack. I close my eyes and press my phone up to my heart. If I didn't have Lucina, then…well, I'd be another kid whose brains got blown out by a killer who was too powerful for justice to reach. And I'd also have no life here.

My stomach growling tells me it's time for food. Being hungry during war is a special type of hunger. It's physically painful to the point that I can barely make a coherent plan. But in the end, I manage to cobble together a series of steps to tide myself over until Lucina can get here.

Step one is to obtain a mask. After trying a few different stores who won't let me in without wearing one, I convince one of them to let me cover my mouth and nose with my shirt. I don't exactly smell great after going through a battle, but it's far better than walking over the bridge covered in corpses. Did Dimitri's forces have to be so brutal with those Adrestian soldiers? I guess there's nothing I can do about it now.

After I acquire some masks, I think about the best food for the moment. Considering that I'm starving, I could go for a whole pizza. But I don't want anything too greasy after five years of eating medieval food (aka mush), so I decide on an 18-inch sub instead. From its size I'm not sure that it can physically fit inside of my stomach, but I'm confident I can eat the whole thing. I take the sandwich back to my spot in the woods. My assault rifle is still there, thank goodness. I could dispose of it by tossing it into a stream if I want to avoid the trouble altogether, but I might have to defend myself from more cops in the future and this country looks like it could devolve into an all-out war any moment.

Step three is to eat the sandwich. I force myself to take small bites and chew for long periods of time so that I don't overwhelm my stomach. It's hard and my brain is begging me for more, but I stay strong and eat the whole thing without giving myself a stomachache. During this time I do more reading, but try not to surf the web too often since I don't want to drain the battery of this phone. Just in case, I text Lucina my GPS coordinates.

I smirk to myself. So reliant on technology, but if I didn't have this phone I'd be dead meat right now. I have no idea how people functioned before instant messaging and calling existed.

Still, killing several hours while waiting for updates from Lucina is… well, given that I'm experienced with battles, it's not so bad. Most of the time spent at war is waiting followed by brief periods of frantic action. And as terrible as the deaths are, for me the hardest part is the waiting. It gives my anxiety all the time in the world to fester, and when the actual fight hits I don't have time to let doubt hold me back. So waiting without an inevitable battle where I might lose my life is relaxing, even though it's a little cold here in the woods.

It gives me plenty of time to reflect, which I can't decide is good or bad. My first thoughts go to Omar. All the people knew what they were doing when they signed up for this mission, but the horses, wyverns, and pegasuses (pegasi?) were forced into this without a say. It feels silly to be worrying about animals before humans, but Omar followed me through thick and thin. He risked his life for me multiple times when he could have flown away and saved himself.

And when it mattered, I abandoned him.

It doesn't matter that I couldn't have saved him after the ballista bolt hit him. It doesn't matter that thousands of other animals have lost their life in Fódlan's war. Keeping Omar alive was my responsibility, and I most likely failed.

And then of course are the people we lost at Garreg Mach, the Great Bridge of Myrddin, and Gronder Field. Marianne, Raphael, Judith, Mercedes, Leonie. If I sit back and do nothing I'm letting their sacrifices go to waste, but if I continue fighting I'm only dragging more people down with me. How are generals supposed to live with themselves? No matter which choices they make, they're getting some people killed. And nobody makes the right decision all the time.

Except Byleth, because they can rewind their mistakes. Maybe that's why I hate them so much. Why do they get access to godlike powers that allow them to wage wars without endangering the people they care about? But I suppose that's most wars. Just look at the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that the US waged. The rich people who signed the orders to get troops sent over weren't the ones who watched friends and family enlist and fly halfway across the world to potentially die in an invasion that destabilized Iraq enough to create ISIS.

The more I think about it, the US isn't different than Fódlan. We're getting what's been coming for a long time. But same as in Fódlan, the people in charge get out unscathed while the common people who did nothing wrong are forced to suffer.

I hate this world and I have no power to change it. Why did Byleth think that I could be happy here?

I'm try to keep my dark thoughts from festering by walking around in the woods. Maybe staying busy wasn't the best way to avoid hard questions. Because now that I have nothing to do, it's all catching up to me at once. And I'm as complicit as anyone else. I controlled a quarter of Fódlan's territory, and I wasn't able to break the cycle of war and violence that Edelgard started.

So what now?

The good news is that I can keep my gun on me while I wander through the woods without it being seen after taking it apart and putting it my backpack, so there's nothing keeping me from wandering as far or as long as I want to. I could do this until I drop. I've done everything I can, after all. Might as well leave my fate to chance.

Picturing Byleth's face is what lets me shove those thoughts aside. I will thrive to spite them if nothing else. And it's not even really shoving anything into their face, since they don't care what I do over in this world. But staying alive despite them using godlike powers to try and keep me down is a statement in itself.

Eventually, Lucina texts me that she's close. At this point my face is numb from the evening chill. I go out into the mall parking lot where my school used to be, and I see the rental car that she described to me. She waves me over and I open the door to the back seat. She reaches over from the driver's seat to give me a hug, and holds me for almost a minute even though the position must be uncomfortable for her. I want to say that I hold on because I'm glad to see her after these five years, but in reality I'm too tired to be the one to let go.

"You look like shit," she says.

"Better than I did last time I popped out of Fódlan."

"So I've heard. You can catch me up on the details as we drive."

I try to start talking about what's happened to me, but I fall asleep within minutes of her driving. When I awake, I see the sun rising out of the car window. Lucina tells me that I slept for a full ten hours and that we have five still to go. She insists that she's perfectly alert and awake. I know it's not safe to be driving straight through the night and into the morning like this, but I've survived so many near-death experiences at this point that it's hard to care.

For the next couple of hours, I catch Lucina up about what's happened. She asks for enough details that I know she genuinely wants to hear more, and she consoles me every time I mention losing someone close to me.

"I was trying to make sure you didn't have to go through that sort of life," Lucina says. "But I'm proud of you, Claude. You did your duty and defended the lands you swore to protect, and you limited the suffering and death caused by war. It sounds like most of the people of the Alliance are still alive and well thanks to you."

That's true. After all my strategizing and fighting, the most good I was able to foster was telling Edelgard I wouldn't raid her army if she attacked Derdriu head-on instead of scouring the countryside. Now she has a politically and economically stable providence to rule over, and I get to keep most of my people safe. But I'm still not happy.

Marianne, Raphael, Judith, Mercedes, Leonie. Their deaths won't leave me alone, and I don't want that to change. My mistakes cost their lives. I wasn't strong enough to protect Judith and Raphael. I didn't trust the Kingdom army enough to provide cover for Mercedes. I didn't drill the importance of surrendering a hopeless fight to Leonie. And I didn't have the courage to abandon Garreg Mach when the church wanted us to fight while unprepared, which would have saved Marianne.

I'll never forgive Byleth, Edelgard, or Rhea for what happened to them. But most of all, I'll never forgive myself.

"Do you know what happened on Earth with my high school?" I say.

"The police ended up capturing Rhea. She was charged and convicted of murder for organizing the assassinations of a number of priests."

"Molester priests."

"As you know, the courts don't take sexual assault seriously. Even if they were found guilty, I'm guessing she still was going to receive a life sentence."

"And the police that started firing at random civilians?"

"Obviously the prosecutors either can't or won't land any of them in prison. There wasn't a lot of video footage, so most information about the police brutality was labelled as 'speculation.'"

I shouldn't be surprised. How many more cases like mine must there have been? For every recorded case of police brutality I find circulating on the internet, I bet there are dozens more lurking in memory.

"The police have also started shooting at people who try to record them, so there are fewer of those videos going around," Lucina says. "But that doesn't mean it isn't happening."

"I wish one time, we could meet on a happy occasion."

Lucina laughs. "Not much of that to be found in this world, I'm afraid. But we do the best we can. But I must admit that many aspects of Earth's global culture confuse me. If democracy is so highly valued, then why does America refuse to implement it in full?"

"You mean stopping voter suppression or allowing people in DC and the American Territories to have full congress representation and votes for the president?"

"Both. You Americans claim to act in the will of the people, but only let subsets of people vote. It baffles me."

"I mean, the powerful don't want to listen to people. If we want a full democracy, we have to protest until it happens."

"Maybe these conflicts will lead to change," Lucina says. "We can only hope."

Funny how quickly I get back into the swing of radical politics. Guess I never really left it behind.

"You should talk about this stuff with my husband," Lucina says. "He's a savant at this political theory stuff. Though he does approach it from a more theoretical angle, which I know is frustrating to some people who feel like their personal stories are being overridden."

"How long have you been married?"

"Eh, you know how it is. Time is hard to track. I wasn't when I left the first time, but when we met again in Iowa I was."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"Must have slipped my mind. I'm not used to talking to Earth people about my personal life in Ylisse. Though I guess now it's also my personal life on Earth, since he's here with me in Ithaca for now."

"For now?"

"We travel back and forth. Ylisse is in a stable position thanks to my father's efforts, so we try to relax here. It hasn't been especially relaxing of late, but the standard of living here is much higher than in my homeland. Better food, better medicine, and I'd say better art with all the great books, movies, shows, youtube channels, podcasts, you name it. As bad as this place is, it got some things right."

That is true. Technology and progress can lead to good, like food security and the internet helping people connect. I don't think I'd know what being nonbinary even is without access to search engines, and living out my entire life trying to force myself to be cis sounds like a nightmare. I wonder how much of that could be implemented in Fódlan without the blood and bones that comes along with America's past and present.

Lucina and I are quiet for the last hour or so of the drive. We pull up to a house in the middle of a town. She tells me that her husband can take the rental car back to a return station nearby and uber back. I hop out of the car with my backpack containing a taken-apart assault rifle and waddle towards the front door. I hope I'm only stiff from the drive and not from the fight, since I think my muscles have gone through enough already. Lucina turns the car off and unlocks the door. I hear feet shuffling inside and make it to the doorstep in time to see an older teenager embracing Lucina. This person presents as female, so I'm guessing this isn't the husband she told me about. Does Lucina also have a sibling she didn't mention?

"Hey, Morgan," Lucina says. "Nice to see you. I think I'm going to head off to bed soon. Is dad around?"

Wait, so Lucina's father is here too? Didn't she say that he was in charge of the kingdom back where she's from?

"Yeah, he's doing that thing where he reads social media and calls it research. I'm glad you made it here safely, mom."

Wait. What?

"This is Claude," Lucina says, gesturing towards me. "He was the one I had you make that charm for those years back."

"Hello, Claude." They wave at me. "I thought you said he was a little kid."

"And at that time, I also didn't know I was your mother. Circumstances have changed."

"Full stop," I say. "How do you not know that someone's your child? And how can your kid be this…" I take a deep breath. "This is more time travel bullshit, isn't it?"

"Yep," Morgan says, beaming. "Time travel bullshit is what I'm best at."

"As your mother, I'm not sure I should be letting you use those words," Lucina says. "But we can talk about it some other time."

"Like mother, like daughter." To me, "Mom told me you were going to stay with us. Make yourself at home. We have an extra room set aside for visitors, even though we don't get many."

"I am heading off to bed," Lucina says. "Claude, I'm guessing you'll want to shower first. Morgan can show you where the towels and bathrooms are." She furrows her brow. "I was going to say that my husband can unpack your stuff, but I guess it all got taken away five years ago."

Oh, right. I guess I can live like a video game character and stick with one outfit for the rest of my life.

"We have way too many clothes," Morgan says. "You can borrow some of dad's. Or mine or mom's, if you don't care about wearing arbitrarily gendered clothes."

"Hey, I'm nonbinary so whatever fits. I don't want to wear the women's pants with tiny pockets, though."

"Oh, you mean _all _women's pants?"

"Hey, there are some that don't have pockets at all."

"As fascinating as this discussion is," Lucina says, "I am going to pass out in bed. Goodnight."

She walks off, yawning to herself. A few seconds later, a man in a plaid shirt and khakis walks in carrying an open laptop. He shuts it when he sees me.

"You just missed mom," Morgan says. "Where were you? I hope Twitter was more important than seeing your wife."

"I'll have to apologize to her later about that," the man says. "I was getting wrapped up in researching the globalization of agriculture. I wonder if industrialized farms are the future for Ylisse. Hopefully we don't have to put animals in those tiny cages, but increasing the efficiency and reliability of our crops could help combat famines…"

"Dad, you're doing the thing again. Don't be rude and introduce yourself to our guest."

"Oh, my apologies." He turns to me. "Claude, yes? My name is Robin. It's nice to meet you. Lucina's told me a bit about the situation you got sucked into with Thales and Fódlan, and I think you'll fit in with our family quite well during your stay."

"Yeah, there's not much weirder than my dad unless you were also the vessel for an evil godlike dragon," Morgan says.

I raise an eyebrow at Robin, who sighs.

"I've given up trying to get her to stop making that people's first impression of me. I can give you the full story one you're settled in. Make yourself at home."

"Ugh, I already told him that, dad," Morgan says. "You can go back to your Tumblr or whatever."

"You know, Tumblr does have a lot of fascinating qualities," Robin says. "We don't have large-scale corporations in Ylisse, so seeing people try to cut those corporations out of their everyday lives is fascinating. Tumblr being a complete corporate failure yet creating a subculture of users with a number of notable qualities such as-"

"Dad, my ears are bleeding."

Robin blinks. "Ah, yes. It's a wonder Lucina can put up with me. Please let me know if you need anything, Claude. Lucina considers you family, which means that I do as well."

At this point they do actually stop talking. Morgan leads me over to the room where I'm staying, which is far cleaner and nicer than any place I've stayed in before. I do a double check on a safety scan for the assault rifle and put it in one of the dresser drawers in separate parts. It's weird to be doing this in front of a kid but keeping gun parts bouncing around in a backpack is not the best means of storage. Also, she seems completely unfazed.

Then she shows me where the shower is and tosses me a clean towel. She comments on how many there are, but it seems like a normal number to me. I suppose that America can seem excessive in all ways when you've lived in a medieval world for your whole life.

The shower's easy enough to operate, and soon I'm scrubbing away as steam rises off my back, trying to get all the dirt out. I think back to Robin's comment about Lucina seeing me as family. When I last saw her, she did say that I was like a sibling to her. And here she is, taking care of me like a mother.

Is this what home feels like?

* * *

**After writing so many battles I needed a slower chapter like this. Hopefully it reads all right.**

**And oh boy is it time for more historical references and politics now that we're in the realworld. As most of us know, Claude in 3H wants to create a multicultural society that breaks down racial/cultural barriers, so I think it makes sense that he's focused on social justice when he's on Earth. But if you're not a fan of that stuff, I do plan to scale it back a bit after this chapter. This was mostly Claude getting up to speed. Robin's and Morgan's characters came to me spontaneously, but I think I'm satisfied with how they came out in the end. **

**I realized there were some oddities about the Awakening timeline in this fic given that Lucina asked Morgan to make Claude's charm a long time ago, but time travel bullshit is always my answer. Awakening barely explains it at some points, so I can do the same. **


	27. Chapter 22: A Moment's Repose

After finishing my shower, my first move is to stretch and take a walk around the neighborhood. It reminds me of middle-of-fuck-nowhere, Iowa, but the houses are way nicer and there are social justice signs every other house, from Black Lives Matter to "pay workers a living wage" to pride flags and messages inclusive to queer people. Even for your resident radical leftist, it's a little overwhelming. But not a bad thing, necessarily.

I wonder what it would have been like to grow up here. Compared to Seattle there are basically no homeless people, and everyone is dressed in well-made clothes that marks them as middle class. Compared to places I've known, this little town feels like another world entirely.

My musing only stops when I return to Lucina's house and Morgan greets me.

"Do you have any plans for today?" she says.

"Right now, I'm trying to survive."

She bobs her head up and down. "Yeah, that's a whole mood and a half. Mom gave me the basic run-down. At least you're not caught in a war while you're here, right?"

Not here, but people are suffering in America and around the world as I speak. Still, I have to admit that there is a difference between high tensions and a civil war, which I could see erupting if this country falls much lower.

"Yeah," I say. "I guess I should start looking for jobs or something like that."

"But you can't, right? Not with your record."

"Guess I'm fucked, huh?"

"We can talk things out with dad, since he might have a way of helping you with anything that requires this world's fancy technology."

"I know how to use a computer, you know."

Though I don't have one anymore. That could make living on Earth difficult.

"Yeah, I mean obviously. But dad's a wizard with that kind of stuff. And also a regular wizard, but that's not the point."

I raise an eyebrow. "Lucina mentioned that you can use magic. You're saying Robin is also like that?"

"All good tacticians learn magic. I wanted to be like him, so I also took up tomes."

Magic tomes, huh? I wonder if that gives them more spell versatility than what Fódlan's mages have. I mean, think about how many spells a single book can contain.

"But like I said, that's all for later," Morgan says. "You should relax here until you feel comfortable. But what to do…" A smile creeps onto her face. "Do you play video games?"

"I have played them before, yes."

"Great. I'll get dad and we can boot up Mario Kart."

She bolts off before I can respond. I haven't played the new Mario Karts much, but those games don't change much from entry to entry. Morgan returns a couple minutes later with Robin, who's carrying a folded-up laptop. Now that I look at him more closely, he does look like he's also in his mid-twenties despite dressing and acting like a middle-aged professor. Which is good, since that means there won't be weird age difference dynamics between him and Lucina.

"I apologize for my daughter roping you into this," Robin says. "If it's any solace, I'm certain that you're better than me at this game."

"Hey, stop saying sorry," Morgan says, "Especially when it's about me."

"I don't mind playing," I say. "It might be good to take things easy for a day or two, if that's all right with you. I don't want to feel like a freeloader."

"Like I said, I see you as family," Robin says. "Rest and relax for as long as you need, Claude."

Morgan goes and boots up Mario Kart on a system I don't recognize. The game that appears is an improved version of an older game from when I was on Earth, which seems super lazy, but it's not like I played the original version of the game so it's new to me regardless.

As Robin promises, he's terrible. Morgan has him turn on auto-steering and auto-acceleration and he still comes in last place every time. He seems to be enjoying it, so I don't comment. Morgan, on the other hand, is a beast. I occasionally look over at her screen and it's clear that she knows the best paths to follow and angles for each turn by heart. I'm stuck somewhere in the middle, which means that the bots keep blasting me with items. Occasionally Robin passes me with a bullet bill and then falls back to last.

"Come on, dad," Morgan says. "This game should be easy for a tactician like you."

"My goal is not to win, but rather to spend quality time with my daughter and an honorary sibling in-law. And in that regard, I am in first place."

"First out of one," Morgan says under her breath.

"A victory nonetheless."

Due to their ages I know that Robin and Morgan can't have a typical parent-child relationship, but it's still bizarre seeing a father participating in activities that his daughter enjoys. I don't think my dad would have touched video games with a ten foot pole if I asked him to play.

After about an hour of playing, Robin says that he has a meeting to attend and leaves. He whistles to himself on his way out of the room, and Morgan sets her controller down.

"What does your dad do?" I say. "It must be tricky finding a job here on Earth when you're all from another world."

"Well, mom found a way to bring gold over here, which gives us all the money we need. So really, don't feel bad about staying with us. Gold sells for a stupid amount over here." Morgan pauses. "Still weird that the gold isn't the currency itself."

"It used to be, in a way. All paper money used to represent a certain amount in the bank rather than being more or less arbitrary like it is now. Though gold itself is an arbitrary choice for currency, I guess. Well, but I guess not, since its high electronegativity means it doesn't rust and can be preserved as coinage."

Morgan stares at me. "You and my dad are the same person, I swear."

"Lucina mentioned something like that. He's really interested in political theory or something?"

"Political history, policy, international relations, he gobbles it all up like bear meat."

"Bear meat?" I say.

"Inside joke. He's familiarizing himself with this world's customs to see which ones are worth bringing back to our world. And with a glimpse into future technology, he can decide which ones he wants Ylisse to develop. If he can pinpoint all the discoveries that led to the development of, say, computers, he can fast-track us so we make it there sooner."

Huh. Maybe that's what I should have been doing all this time. But then again, I was going to get thrown out of high school if I didn't keep up with my assignments, and I had no free time outside of that and Fódlan.

"He's such a boomer, though," Morgan says. "He even likes _mayonnaise._"

"I guess people like him are the reason there's an entire shelf dedicated to mayonnaise at the grocery store. Meanwhile I have like five options for lentils, which are one of the most commonly consumed foods in the world."

"Do you hear that, dad?" Morgan shouts. "Claude thinks you're a boomer too."

"That's nice, Morgan." His voice is loud enough to travel, but still manages to carry the same even tone.

"Anyways," Morgan says, "Dad is apparently good enough at what he does that a lot of people at the fancy university want to talk with him about stuff. It all has to be remote, but it keeps him busy. While I, on the other hand, am stuck. How do I have access to a near-infinite source of information at all times and still get bored? I don't understand it."

"Happens to the best of us," I say. "Your mind readjusts."

"Well, your goal is to chill and relax," Morgan says, "So maybe I can help you with that. Is there anything fun you want to do?"

Fun… when's the last time I've done something for fun on my own?

"We have a bunch of fun video games," Morgan says. "If you want to boot up some of the single-player ones I could give you help when you need it. Oh, and there are a bunch of great hikes around here. There are some trails even in the city, or we could bug dad to take us on a gorge hike after he's done with his call."

If there's a mass pandemic going on and the virus travels through breath, I'm not sure how wise it is to be going on hikes when it's easy to pass people on narrow paths. I decide on picking up some video games. Morgan seems more eager to watch than she was to play, so I don't feel bad as I look through the single player games. She recommends a RPG that looks super anime, and I guess it can't hurt to give it a try.

Morgan's someone who constantly talks while I play games, but I prefer it that way. After spending every waking moment busy, I think I'd go crazy if I tried to play an RPG in silence. Besides, her advice is helpful more often than it is annoying, and we get to comment on the weird designs of all the characters. The first act has a protagonist kid who salvages junk from the ocean go on a mission to retrieve some artifact that ends up being a weapon who is also a sentient anime girl with huge boobs and it only gets wilder from there. I get lost in the world of the game and don't realize how long I've been playing until Lucina walks in on us.

"Hey, mom," Morgan says. "Guess which game I'm having Claude play."

"It's the one with that one capybara who builds a sex robot, right?"

Morgan puts her hands on her hips. "He's not a capybara."

"Morgan," I say. "You have to tell me now if the robot is a sex bot or if it's just a racy joke."

"Just a racy joke," Morgan says. "Mom over here loves to exaggerate everything."

"I do like the Scottish lady with the whips words though," Lucina says.

"No whips words for me, thanks," I say.

"Seriously?" Morgan crosses her arms. "They're _super _cool."

"I was almost killed by one."

"I was almost killed by about every weapon imaginable, and you don't see me hating on them."

Lucina walks in and sits down on the couch, watching me run around in a grassy field in-game.

"I'm glad to see that you're getting along," Lucina says. "Disagreements about whip swords notwithstanding."

"We should have more visitors," Morgan says, "Especially if they're cool like Claude."

Honestly, I can't tell if she means that I'm hip or personable. Lucina smiles.

"Enjoy Claude's company while he's here, then. Because we have to make sure that we don't get the virus. Claude's safe because he spent the past five years in another dimension, but we have to keep isolated from everyone else."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. I hope it passes soon so we can go back to Ylisse and see our friends."

Oh, so they're not travelling between dimensions to make absolute sure they're not bringing the virus over. That should be something I take into account when travelling back to Fódlan. Honestly, I'm surprised I haven't caused a disease outbreak by bringing over some new bug that Earth people are resistant to but Fódlan people don't have the immune system to deal with.

"Please, relax for as long as you want," Lucina tells me. "At some point though, I'm guessing you'll want to talk about what you want to do in this world. Robin being good with computers means he can basically look up anything you want to know."

Ah, yes. I think the smartest people are the ones who know how to google things the best. That was what saved me in school, anyway, and I'm not nearly as good at picking up info on the fly as other people like Linhardt. Still, it can't hurt to tap into his knowledge source. At least, so long as I can keep him on track.

"That might be a good idea," I say. Turning to Morgan, "I've been playing a while. How long is this game, anyway?"

"Well, there are about ten continents to explore and you're still on the second one. The first one was the tutorial."

How did this game ever get made? I can see why all the video game people are talking about a crunch crisis.

"Do you know if Robin is free right now?" I say.

"Let me check." Morgan grins. "HEY DAD?"

I hear footsteps shuffling from upstairs. They grow closer until Robin emerges from around the corner with open laptop in hand. He looks at Morgan while she slouches back further into the couch.

"Claude wanted to talk with you," Morgan says.

"Ah. My thanks." His gaze turns to me. "Would you like to discuss matters in any specific place?"

Well, it might be awkward to lay out everything that's going on in front of a pair of onlookers, so maybe not here.

"How about the kitchen?" I say.

"And fix him something to eat as well, will you?" Lucina says. "Hey Morgan. Do you want to work on swordplay?"

Her face lights up. "Gimme a sec to stretch and warm up. I'll be there in no time."

A smirk comes to Lucina's face. She and Robin are definitely the cool parents most people wish they had, though it probably helps that Morgan is already a legal adult and they have enough energy to keep up with her.

I follow Robin into the kitchen. He offers to make me a sandwich but I decide to fix it myself so that I can get the ingredients how I want them. Honestly, it's a blessing to be able to make my food the exact way I want it after being served formal Alliance cuisine for the past five years, even if it's only a sandwich. And the food here on Earth is so much better than medieval food. I add some salt to my sandwich because I can, and I've almost forgotten how it tastes.

"I'm happy to talk about anything that's on your mind," Robin says. "Lucina warned me not to bring up politics since that's a touchy topic, and rolled her eyes at me after I went on about how everything around us is a result of politics."

"True enough. Though I don't know how much of my socialist ideology you want to hear about."

A shrug. "It's all interesting to me. And while I do believe that the American far left neglects a number of practical issues that would result from the implementation of their ideas, I can sympathize with their desire for policy that serves people directly and as a first priority."

"You don't think other people want that as well?" I say.

"Well, I'm a believer in serving systems that influence people rather than the other way around. I am also a bit of what you might describe as a 'dirty capitalist.' So I believe that directly serving the right markets and incentivizing practices that promote sustainability and security is the right way to go. But my experiences are colored by working with royals and bureaucracy so often, so my views aren't exactly neutral."

"Happens to the best of us."

Also, Robin's view of "capitalist" as in "the government taking an active role in regulating markets" is funny to me. But I guess they already do that with farm subsidies that end up going to big corporations and tax breaks for billionaires. It's only when the regular people want something that the free market is invoked.

"That's why it's good to understand where people are coming from and what they're trying to serve." Robin pauses. "Is this what you wish to be discussing, or am I prattling on again?"

"I don't mind talking politics, but I'm more interested in learning about planar mechanics. There are different versions of my friends here and in Fódlan, and when the Fódlan one dies the real one always follows. But Lucina says it doesn't work the other way around."

"Ah. I fear we know rather little about the planescape, but I'm happy to lend any knowledge that I have. From what I understand, other planes can imprint on this one."

"What does that mean?"

"People can travel between two planes, but the connection between them is less like a bridge and more like a slide. People can climb up or down, but the energy flows one way. One plane will reflect what happens in the other, and not the alternate way."

"So Fódlan is the one setting our fates, and we can only watch it play out on Earth?"

"Ah, my apologies. I didn't mean to imply that you're not in control of your destinies. It's simply that from a planar perspective, information flows from other words to Earth like rainfall converging into a pond."

"Don't worry." I smirk. "It takes more than that to offend me. So have you noticed examples of that from Ylisse to Earth as well?"

"Lucina has the firsthand knowledge of that. From what she's told me, it sounds like Fódlan imprints more strongly on Earth than Ylisse does."

I wonder how much Byleth knew about this. Did they not consider that they could be leaving me powerless here, or is that exactly what they wanted?

"So if I want to fix what's going on with my friends, I have to do so in Fódlan," I say.

"Large external events on Earth will match what happens in Fódlan. Again, I don't want to claim that you won't make a difference by supporting your friends here, but major life events are dictated by what occurs over there."

I think in my heart, I already knew what Robin is saying. Leaping back from Fódlan to see Thales and his cops attacking our high school couldn't be due to chance alone. Of course, it could have been Thales orchestrating both at once rather than fate, but it makes sense that not only deaths carry over from Fódlan to Earth.

"That means I did something right, at least," I say. "I made a key general of the enemy faction promise not to kill my friends. But if they get taken hostage in Fódlan, will that transfer over to Earth as well?"

A pause. "Well, we don't know for sure…"

"But you have a guess, don't you?"

Robin sighs. "Most likely, the Fódlan version of someone being imprisoned will lead to the arrest of their Earth counterpart. There are many mechanisms for this to happen, seeing as the police are not always the most… accurate with who they detain and charge with crimes."

"That's one way to put it."

So it sounds like my work isn't done. If Dimitri and the others spend the rest of their Fódlan lives rotting away in some medieval prison, that's the fate my friends will suffer as well. I know I promised Byleth not to interfere, but there has to be something I can do. Without an army, I stand no chance of fighting them directly. But maybe I can advocate for the Golden Deer and Blue Lions classmates.

"There's something I want to double-check," I say. "How good are you at tracking down specific people?"

"I'm quite used to it at this point," Robin says. "It's a useful skill to have."

"Great. Can you tell me what happened to Judith Daphnel, Raphael Kirsten, Leonie Pinelli, and Mercedes Martriz?"

Robin types at his keyboard in furious bursts followed by scrolling, frowning, and muttering under his breath. I can't see his screen, but I can tell that he's working fast to dig up information. Watching an academic go at it like this is weirdly therapeutic. After only a few minutes, he sighs and looks up at me.

"They all passed on recently. Do you want me to forward you the links?"

"I don't know if that's necessary. How did each of them die?"

"You won't find official records saying this, but it looks like Judith was assassinated by the CIA. Fairly standard practice. She was planning to expose the way they topple foreign democracies and destabilizing those regions by funding and arming drug cartels. And, ah, don't do around repeating that, okay? Just to be safe."

Wow. That started off with… something. Though I suppose that will be nothing compared to what will happen in Fódlan once Edelgard wins and Hubert becomes Fódlan's spymaster.

"Leonie was killed by white supremacists she supposedly aggravated. Mercedes fell ill and died of COVID-19 after participating in relief efforts that exposed her to the virus. Raphael was shot to death by police who claimed that he was threatening them. Reputable sources say he wasn't."

Raphael… how close was that to being me, all those years ago? And if Robin's words are true, my near-death experience might have been fate. But I can influence what happens in Fódlan. I already have, as the leader of the Alliance for the past five years. Byleth quashed any ability I had to lead my people towards a brighter future, but these planar dynamics mean I have more power there than here.

"One more person," I say. "Could you look up Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd?"

"That's quite the name." More keyboard mashing and scrolling. "He's alive. Is he supposed to be?"

"Yeah, so far as I know."

"Looks like he still lives in the state. It's a four-hour drive, but we're relatively close by."

"I want to see him."

"I'd be happy to take you there tomorrow. I don't have any big meetings, and Lucina shouldn't be the one to take you since I can tell she's still tired from driving you here." He pauses, and I hear ringing of metal on metal upstairs. "I'm amazed she has enough energy to indulge Morgan in sparring. Though I suppose compared to full-day marches during the war, driving isn't too bad."

I open my mouth to say we need to go now, and then I close it. It's getting late, and I'm not sure I have the energy to deal with more of life's shit right now. Tomorrow morning will work better for all of us.

"If there's anyone else in the area you want to check on, it might be a good time," Robin says.

Who else do I want to see? The Blue Lions students are here in the northeast, which limits my options.

"How about Ashe Gaspard? You might also get hits for Ashe Ubert since that's his birth name."

After less than a minute of being glued to his computer screen, Robin looks up at me.

"He's closer than Dimitri is, and on the way. Do you want to hit his place first?"

"Sounds good. Thank you so much for this, by the way. If there's anything I can do for you in return…"

"Like I said, you're family to me. I'm happy to help in any way I can."

Family, huh? My parents would never have done this for me. In fact, they refused to take me to Hilda's house when we were friends, and she lived about five minutes away. When people make those cheesy facebook posts about how much they love their family, I wonder if this is what experiences everyone else is thinking of.

"Now," Robin says, "I should probably make dinner. We were planning for a simple pasta night, if that's okay with you."

"Trust me, it's better than army rations. What can I help with?"

"Thanks for the offer, but I don't believe I need assistance. Boiling noodles is a one person job."

"Great. That means I can look for side dishes to make or stuff to add onto the pasta. What do you normally eat it with?"

A pause. I can tell he's considering whether or not it's worth insisting that he do everything himself. Then he shrugs in defeat.

"Morgan's big into meatballs right now. With the amount that she's staying active even in quarantine, she has the metabolism for it."

As if on cue, another metal ring sounds upstairs.

"It's so strange for me to live in this world where food is so abundant that even lower-class people are trying to eat less," Robin says. "Yet still, poverty is an issue while we have more than enough food for everyone."

"Yet another consequence of that capitalism you love so much."

"I suppose. It probably would do me well to research alternatives to having large corporations in charge of industrial agriculture for Ylisse's sake. Can I put you on meatball duty?"

I smile at the jump in subject. "Sure. Can't say I'm an experienced chef, but I can follow recipes on google."

"Important question." A mischievous smile comes to Robin's face. "Do we want to tell Morgan you made the meatballs, or do we want to see what she really thinks of them by pretending I was the cook?"

Okay, I see some of where Morgan gets it from now.

"You know, pretending you made everything sounds like fun. Let's go with that."

"Excellent."

Cooking meatballs and making a sauce isn't hard, and by the time we're done Lucina and Morgan are still sparring upstairs. We need to wait extra time for them to shower, but lukewarm food is the least of my worries right now. Lucina's family and I all sit around the dinner table and eat together. Did I ever eat dinner together with both of my parents? If so, I was too young to remember it. Morgan scarfs down the pasta so quickly that I'm worried she's going to choke on something, but Lucina and Robin are acting like it's normal so I don't say anything.

"These meatballs are way better than the ones you normally make, dad," Morgan says. "Did you actually stop thinking about Ylissean bureaucracy while you were making food and pay attention to what you're doing?"

"Well, it's good to perform a test to see if you're complaining for the sake of it," Robin says. "You passed. Claude made these ones."

"You made him help with dinner on his first day here?" Lucina says.

"I insisted on helping," I say. "And thanks for the compliment to my cooking, Morgan."

"All right," Robin says. "How did you do it, Claude? I should start taking notes."

"I'm not sure what to say. I followed the directions on the google recipe and they ended up like this."

"I knew it," Morgan said. "You just don't pay attention when you cook, dad."

Robin raises an eyebrow. "If my cooking is really that bad you're welcome to make dinner yourself."

"I'm actually about this close to doing that. Besides, if I can rope Claude into helping me then it will be fun."

Lucina laughs. "We'll need to have a cooking competition where we all make the same thing and taste test each other's creations."

Do some people really live their lives like this? Here in the moment, it seems so easy to be a happy family and get along. Not that this is an archetypal American household with all the time travel bullshit going on, but still. If it's this easy for people to love each other, then why is there so much abuse in this world?

"I guess you make things more exciting for us, Claude," Robin says. "I'm sure Lucina made this clear, but please do stay as long as you like. We won't stop you if you go to Fódlan again, but you always have a home with us."

But why? Robin said I'm like family to him, but it's not normal to care for someone the moment you meet them. Even friendly people I met at school like Ashe and Ignatz probably wouldn't have driven me 8 hours in a day right after meeting me.

"Thanks," I say. "I can't say I'll feel great about mooching off you forever but I appreciate the offer."

I think about Robin's words for the rest of dinner, and as I play more video games with Morgan after dinner. It must be hard for her to be an extrovert and an only child, especially during quarantine. She's good company and doesn't rage when she loses like Hilda did in middle school—but then again, I can almost never beat her at anything.

And even when I lay in the bed Lucina and Robin have given me, surrounded by the smell of newly washed blankets and sheets, I can't get their smiles and laughter out of my head. Then I start crying. At first I think I'm imagining it, because I'm not sad. I can't afford to be when I need to keep putting one foot in front of the other until I keel over from exhaustion. But the tears keep coming.

This makes no sense. For the first time ever, I have a place where I belong. I haven't cried in years. I should be happy, not sad.

Am I happy?

Is this what being happy feels like?

I… don't know.

I don't know.

Why don't I know?

* * *

**The old saying not to talk about politics with family figures isn't stopping Claude and Robin. I swear I'm not trying to make a political statement with this fic but the characters don't want to stop talking about politics. **

**Hey, everyone! :) Turns out this term is busier than I thought. Don't do grad school kids; it's a gateway drug. Jkjk I'm glad to be working a paid job but yeah it eats up a lot of time so I might not be uploading as frequently.**

**Oh, and the RPG Claude was playing is based off Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Despite what the characters say about it here, it's one of my favorite games of all time and I could see a lot of FE fans liking it, especially if you prefer the RPG side to the tactics side. **

**Hope you have a wonderful day! :D **


	28. Chapter 23: Before the Storm

I must be exhausted, because I sleep a full 11 hours through the night. I wake up still feeling tired, and go downstairs to see Morgan playing away at the same RPG I was yesterday. In the kitchen, Robin is typing on his laptop at what sounds like a hundred words per minute while a cup of coffee steams next to him. He doesn't even notice me until I walk up to the table across from him.

"Busy day?" I say.

"Writing up some notes from discussions I've had about policy and infrastructure. Who knew sewer management could be so complicated? Ylisstol has a basic sewer system, but it looks like we're in for an overhaul. The reduction in pestilence from having clean waterways could save thousands of lives. Especially relevant to think about now, even though COVID doesn't primarily spread through water."

"Are you sure you have time to be indulging me in my silly road trips?" I say. "If you need to do more research about matters that will help your people, I can wait until Lucina's rested and then ask her."

"Nonsense. I'm stuck in this world for quite a while, anyway, so I have plenty of free time. Besides, I can't let her take on all the family work herself. Can I get you something to eat for breakfast?"

As before, I insist on making it myself. Robin says he's already eaten, so I make myself bacon and toast. No eggs for me, since they make my carsickness worse. The sweetness of the jam on the toast takes me by surprise. I had forgotten how much sugar is in American food. Hopefully I don't sugar rush and go bouncing off the walls while I'm in the car.

It's strange how quickly I can turn from a war leader to a deadbeat kid in his early 20s in mindset as well as circumstances. Even a week ago, having my main worry be about getting too much energy from sugar would have sounded like a dream come true.

And maybe that's what this is. I don't fully trust Robin in the same way that I do Lucina, but I that relationship has to be built through time. But how long can I afford to stay here if my friends might be locked up as a result of what happens in Fódlan?

I scarf down the food faster than is polite, but Robin doesn't comment. In fact, he doesn't even seem to notice me, as he's gone back to his furious keyboard tapping. He only looks up when I load my plate into the dishwasher and wash off the skillet I used to make my bacon. Salt, sugar, butter… man, is Fódlan food missing out on the good stuff.

Robin says goodbye to Morgan as we walk out. She's so absorbed in her game that I wonder if she even heard us, but after a moment she pauses the game and sets down her controller.

"So you're going on an expedition and you're abandoning me?" she says.

"If that's what you call eight hours of driving, then yes. We're going to see some people Claude knows."

"Oh, old friends?"

"Something like that," I say. "I'll be back soon, so don't worry."

"Well, it's not like I'm waiting on you like one of your American housewives from those old movies or whatever. But if you want to chill and game after you're back, hit me up."

"Sure. And then maybe we can cook something together?"

"Sounds like a plan. We'll shock and awe dad with how amazing our skills are in comparison to his. Oh, and I also found a game where you try to frantically cook meals together."

"We'll see if I'm up for checking it out when I'm back. See you later, Morgan."

She waves goodbye and we continue on our way out. Robin has a separate car from Lucina, and looks like one of the fancy ones with a built-in GPS and a bunch of buttons and features I don't recognize. Though it could be my five-year gap in Earth technology speaking. We're on the road soon, and I note that Robin's driving is slower than Lucina's, which is slower than my parents'. Is he… actually going the speed limit? On the highway, he starts going five to ten miles per hour over, which is still tame.

"It makes me happy to see you and Morgan getting along so well," Robin says. "I'm sure you can tell how much she appreciates having someone her own age around who isn't a parent, and I hope it's been fun for you as well."

I smirk when he specifies "not a parent" following up someone who's around her age. Time travel is a strange beast, but they seem to be rolling with the punches.

"Yeah, I've never really had siblings or close friends either." A pause. "Well, that's not true about friends, but I was always too busy to spend time with them. I met Dimitri and Ashe after I went to Fódlan, and I had to keep up with school in both worlds."

"That sounds impossible. How did you manage it?"

"Being okay with mediocrity and not taking any time to process my emotions."

"Ah. Well, sounds similar to being a war tactician."

"Yeah, it didn't get less busy when I was in charge of the Alliance."

"I've learned it can be good to take things slow when you can. I hope you don't rush back into Fódlan without giving yourself a chance to recharge."

"_You _are telling me to take things slow?"

"What does that…" he furrows his brow. "Ah, the speed of my research. Well, that's being efficient. I used to do that but also working through meals and going at night until I collapse. Compared to those time, my work now feels like child's play."

I think Robin is one of those people who's way smarter than anyone else, and there's not much I can do to catch up to him in that regard. Again, Linhardt comes to mind, though Robin shows what happens when someone like Linhardt puts his brainpower towards something productive. I can't imagine how much work it must be to try and understand every aspect of policy as well as experts in each field.

It still confuses me that people like him have time for family. Being aromantic, I'm not sure how I feel about marriage, but not falling in love since Dimitri has been more of a necessity than anything else for me so far. Too many messy feelings in war, and I don't have time to be pursuing a relationship.

Over the course of the trip, I pick his mind about what he's planning to apply to Ylisse from the knowledge he's gained on Earth. The two areas he focuses on most are biology and engineering. But of course, engineering relies on physics and incorporates chemistry, while biology can rely on geography, geology, and also chemistry. And then public planning is a whole separate area from those two. He offers to share files with me about plans for improving Ylisse, and I accept. Byleth could have been using this world's knowledge to enrich the lives of people back on their home plane, and instead they used it to stalk people of interest and start a war.

Though I don't know how much I can blame Byleth for that one. After all, Lucina came here before Robin, and it's not like she was sifting through this world's knowledge for improvements to make back in Ylisse.

Early on in our trip, I text Ashe saying that I'm alive and asking if I can visit. It was probably something I should have done last night, but better late than never. He agrees and sounds excited to talk with me. He sends his address that Robin already has, and I tell Robin to pretend like we didn't stalk him.

I also text Dimitri, but there's no response. If he were still using that phone, I'm guessing he would have called me back after seeing that I tried to reach him a couple days back. I'm not sure what that means, but I don't think it's good.

We make decent time to Ashe's place even with Robin's moderate driving speed. I'm surprised to see that Ashe lives in a small house on the outskirts of his town rather than an apartment, but I'm sure it makes sense financially for him since he could outright buy the house and plan to sell it later at the same price instead of throwing rent money down the drain.

Robin has me put on a mask before we approach the doorstep. He explains that masks provide more protection for others than the person wearing it, but that it can't hurt and it's a common courtesy. The weather's decent out, so he raises the possibility of talking maskless outside at a distance where transmission is less likely. After enduring the heat, cold, and grime of military marches, wearing a mask is nothing in comparison.

I go up and ring the doorbell. From my reconnaissance missions in Fódlan, my hearing focuses on the inside of the house without me making the conscious effort. I her shuffling around, and the footsteps don't sound like they belong to a predator. It's stupid to wonder if this world's Ashe is a threat to me, but old habits die hard. I glance over at Robin who seems lost in thought and wonder if he has any baggage from the war that he carries with him.

The door opens, revealing Ashe with a mask on. He opens his arms to hug me, and then hesitates.

"Not the best idea with the pandemic going on," Ashe says, "But it's great to see you, Claude. I thought you were…"

"Yeah, there were times I thought I was dead meat as well," I say.

"Where _were _you all this time? And why did you have blood all over you on that day five years ago? And why-" He stops himself. "Forgive me. Would you like to come in, or…?"

"My friend Robin here suggested that we talk outside to limit transmission risk," I say. "Is that all right with you?"

"Oh, my apologies for not introducing myself to your friend," Ashe says. To Robin, "I'm Ashe. I went to school with Claude, and I owe him a great debt." He cocks his head. "Well, two, really. I think you saved my life the last time we were together."

"Sounds like quite the story," Robin says. "My name's Robin. I would shake your hand, but…"

Ashe waves a hand. "No worries. I have a few camping chairs. Do you want me to get some for you?"

"I brought some for me and Claude," Robin says. "So you'll only need one for yourself."

News to me. Guess Robin's prepared for everything.

It takes us a few minutes to set up in Ashe's front yard. We stay six feet apart, and all of us keep our masks on to be safe. It's hard to read his expression without being able to see most of his face, but Ashe does seem different than when we knew each other in school. He's mostly the same sweet person, but the way he carries himself now is more confident. I smile under my mask.

I decide to tell Ashe the truth about where I've been and what happened on the day when Thales attacked us. Robin looks surprised when I start going on about what happened in Fódlan, but he doesn't make any comments. Ashe hangs onto my words instead of scoffing in disbelief, which is more than I was expecting right off the bat.

"So that's why you disappeared almost every day at our high school?" Ashe says. "Here I was thinking that you didn't like us much, and here you are saying you were attending another school in another realm."

"Do you believe me about that?"

"I'm not sure I do. But I'm realizing that regardless of what happened to you, I'm glad you're okay. And if you wanted to paint yourself as a savior, creating a fake alternate dimension where you saved our alter egos is not the easiest way to do it. So I don't think you're trying to mislead me anywhere."

"Plus, I did a shitty job at saving people," I say.

"It's something we all deal with," Robin says. "If you ever want to talk with Lucina about ways to deal with the guilt, she's happy to share what's worked for her."

"You seem to be taking this in stride, Robin," Ashe says. "What's your relationship to Claude? Are you from this Fódlan place?"

"Close, but not quite. I was originally from a different dimension entirely. Whether or not you believe that absurd statement is up to you. Claude is close enough to my wife to be her sibling, so I think of him as an honorary sibling in-law."

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter for me whether or not those alternate dimensions are real," Ashe says. "I'm glad you've found your family, Claude. It's been a blessing to live with my brother and sister. They're in high school right now, and I'm basically a stay at home parent."

"Ugh," I say. "Parenting teenagers."

"Hey, I think you would have been easy to parent as a teen," Ashe says. "And my siblings appreciate what I do. We're all planning on applying to college next year, so we can help each other out with applications."

Huh. So you don't need time travel bullshit to have a less traditional family structure. But I guess that's what's left for people like us. Ashe's parents died when he was young, and then his adoptive parents died when he was in high school. And despite it all, he's managing to keep putting one foot in front of the other and drink in life.

This is what I was fighting for. Marianne, Judith, Raphael, Mercedes, Leonie… I'm sorry that I couldn't give you this future you deserved.

"Something up, Claude?" Ashe says.

"I can't beat Byleth. Nobody can. I poured everything I had into keeping you all safe, but it didn't matter in the end."

A pause. "It sounds like you did save some people. Lysithea and Hilda are still alive because you told them to surrender, right?"

I guess that's true. But if they're captured in Fódlan, I don't know what that means for them here. Now that I think about it, I didn't see Ashe at the Battle at Gronder, so the Fódlan version of him must be in Faerghus somewhere. When Byleth marches into his home and starts pillaging, I'm sure Ashe will want to defend it. That means he'll be captured at best and killed at worst. If Earth Ashe has made this connection, he hasn't said anything. I shouldn't worry him about it since there's nothing at this point he can do to change the outcome.

"Still," Robin says. "It must not be easy to live in that world. The portal fantasy stories I've read here on Earth view these fantasy worlds as escapes. You know, Alice finding freedom from classic Victorian society even as she's being pursued by the Red Queen and all. I guess that's what the story is for Byleth, isn't it? A world where they can use their godlike power to enact their will on the world."

"And when you stand against a goddess, what are you supposed to do?" I say. "Though I can't imagine this is what Sothis had in mind. Byleth must have drained her power when they escaped the darkness of Zaharas after Solon banished them."

"And you're sure this isn't a bad dream, Claude?" Ashe says.

"Doesn't match up with hallucination symptoms," I say. "When I go to and return from Fódlan is under my control."

Or maybe that's the way I remember it. Still, I don't think Schizophrenia or other related health conditions could cause me to hallucinate a world that large with rules so consistent.

"There's still a part of me that thinks you're pulling my leg," Ashe says, "But no matter what, I'm glad to see that you're safe and sound. I'll message your socials after you get back home, and we can voice chat if you're interested."

"That sounds great, Ashe. Thanks."

A pause. "I'm assuming you didn't come all the way out here only to see me in person."

"What? You're my friend, Ashe. Of course I want to see you."

"Is there something you want from me, Claude? I'm happy to help."

Money. He thinks I'm desperate and that I want some of the inheritance he received.

"No, nothing like that. I'm also going to see Dimitri. He hasn't responded when I message him, so we need to go find him in person."

Ashe raises an eyebrow. "So you're… stalking him."

"It looks like Dimitri is in quite a bit of trouble," Robin says. "We wanted to check in on him. But yes, we did stalk him."

Did he have to say that last part?

"Does this have to do with something that happened to him in Fódlan?" Ashe says.

Someone's quick on the uptake.

"He was a totally different person," I say. "We thought he was executed, but he returned to fight against the Empire. And his bloodlust… the way he killed those people…"

I shiver and rub my arms. I didn't think I was squeamish about this sort of thing, but seeing what happened to those Adrestian towns and the soldiers at the bridge where Dimitri crossed will stay in my mind until I die.

When I look up at Ashe, I see that he's staring off into the distance with narrowed eyes. I can't tell if he's reminiscing, pondering how much he belives me, or considering getting involved. Maybe all three.

"Well, let me know when you need to head off," Ashe says. "And tell me if you find Dimitri. And how he is. He slipped away from me, Ignatz, and Lysithea five years ago, and none of the authorities could find him. We thought…"

He slaps a hand over his mouth, which still carries the full effect despite the mask over his face.

"You thought what, Ashe?" I say.

But really, don't I already know the answer?

"We thought he went looking for you," Ashe says. "And we thought that he went wherever you were."

They probably thought we were both dead. And I can't blame them one bit.

Robin's able to turn the topic of conversation back to lighter matters, and I get to hear a bunch of stories about Ashe's siblings. His brother is interested in becoming a social worker and is working with the high school to get a food pantry at the school, which reminds me of Ashe stocking our stores with rice, beans, and lentils over winter break. His sister is a programmer and enjoys designing tabletop games, and Ashe says that she wants to develop an indie game with board-game-like elements, and that she has a working prototype already. These kids seem a hell of a lot more talented than I was in high school, but I guess the new generation was always going to build on what we did and surpass us without breaking a sweat. Though maybe I need to stop talking like I'm an old person already at the age of 23.

As we wrap up the conversation and I pile back into Robin's car, I'm left with a nervous feeling in my stomach. If I don't go back to Fódlan and ensure Ashe's safety, he could lose this life he has. Though more than that, being done talking to him means I'm that much closer to meeting Dimitri. What is he going to be like when I see him again? So much has changed and I…

I still love him.

It's a strange thought to creep into my mind after five years in Fódlan, where I had no chemistry with the Dimitri at the monastery. But when I think back to our dance, the way I held him, and… the kiss.

I still love like a nervous teenager. How much of that is due to me being aromantic, and how much is it me lacking the experience? I don't know anyone older who's aromantic to ask about what relationships look like as we get older, so that's another trail I'll have to blaze for myself. Assuming I survive for the next few years, that is. If I'm heading back to Fódlan then I'm not going to bet on my chances. Although, an actual bet on my chances would be a great one, since if I die I don't have to pay them if I lose.

My mind continues fixating on Dimitri for the rest of our drive. By the time Robin parks the car, my heart is nearly in my throat. Why am I more nervous now than when I was staring down Byleth's army at the Battle at Gronder? I understand that my smooth brain doesn't always tell me to do things that make sense, but this is ridiculous. Guess it's similar to that stat that people are more afraid of public speaking than they are of death.

Robin takes the lead as we walk towards the apartment complex, and I'm not sure if it's because he can feel how tense I am or if he's in front because he knows where Dimitri's room is. The apartment building has one of those locked doors that requires a keycard, meaning I have no chance of picking it, but we're able to wait around until someone lets us in. I guess we're young enough that they assume we live here, which reminds me once again that Robin is in his early-mid 20s despite dressing and acting like someone in his 40s. I know he's sweet and amazing and maybe kinda cute, but I'm still not sure why Lucina's drawn to him since they seem so different. Maybe it's just alloromantic people being weird.

When we ride up the elevator, I ask Robin if he had any backup plans in case someone didn't let us in.

"Oh, I could hack into it pretty easily. Those security systems tend to be kinda shitty."

Oh, right. Computer nerds have the power to control the world, and we're all dancing in the palm of their hand. At least according to those sci-fi movies and video games, anyway.

We step out of the elevator onto the sixth floor and Robin whistles with hands in his pocket while he walks down the hall. I've forgotten which room Dimitri is in, but he seems confident about where he's going. He walks up to the door 611, raises a knuckled hand to knock, and then looks back at me.

"You ready, Claude?"

"About as ready as I'll ever be."

Robin knocks on the door. Nothing. Another round of knocks and I hear a grunt from inside.

"Go away."

It's Dimitri's voice, in the same low growl that I heard from him during the Battle at Gronder. I step up to the door.

"Dimitri? It's Claude. I've… missed you."

"I know you're lying. Get out or I'll do something I'm going to regret."

"Dimitri, please. I'm sorry for leaving you, but I'm back now. I want to see your face."

Another grunt, and I hear shuffling inside of the room. The door opens to reveal Dimitri with the same eyepatch and dirty, long hair as in Fódlan. Here, he's wearing a tattered leather jacket. The inside of his apartment is piled with food wrappers and other trash, and it smells like a skunk died inside. Still, the stench is nothing compared to stumbling on a field of corpses, and Robin doesn't react to it either. Good to have another professional at my side.

"I should have known that you'd haunt me as well," Dimitri says.

"Haunt you?"

"And why are you here? Who do you want me to kill?"

"I don't…" How do I respond to that? "I wanted to say hi."

A frown. "You're real after all, aren't you?"

He reaches out towards me. I let my fingers slide over his, and his arm jerks back.

"So it is you." Dimitri's eyes narrow. "I don't care where you've been, Claude. I don't care what you want from me. I have my own mission, and it has nothing to do with you. Go back to wherever you've been hiding for the past five years."

I open my mouth to respond, and he slams the door on me. I hear the clicking of the lock.

"I also talked with Ashe," I say. "We all missed you, Dimitri."

No response. I close my eyes and let out a sigh. This is exactly what I was fearing, but now that it's happened I'm more relieved than anything. Such a strange emotion for the situation. Why can't my feelings ever make sense?

"Does it make me a bad person if I don't feel terrible that the person I care about is suffering?" I say.

"Nobody should tell you that you need to feel a certain way," Robin says. "I assume you're dedicated to supporting him in the ways you can?"

"Of course."

"That's what matters, Claude. I think we'll need to reevaluate our strategy. We can't force him to get help, and he doesn't seem receptive to anything you're saying."

That's true. I bet Robin has some way to barge into this room if he wanted to, and while I don't care about committing a crime like breaking and entering after being wanted for mass murder, marching into his room will only make the situation worse.

"Then I believe our work here is done," Robin says. "Unless there is anything else that demands your attention here?"

"I guess not. Sorry to make you drive all this way."

"I'd say it was well worth it. We got to confirm that someone you care about is alive and that he needs help. I bet I can also piece together what the 'mission' he talked about is with a bit of time."

It's a strange sensation to be with someone who doesn't try to make me feel guilty every time they do something for me. Mom, dad, Hilda… time to leave all of you behind. I have a new family now, and I'm allowed to have basic human needs around them.

#

Long car rides are always weirdly exhausting for me, and by the time I get back I both want to run a lap around the neighborhood and pass out on the bed I've been given. It doesn't help that the bed is nice and soft compared to conditions on military marches. We hear Morgan and Lucina practicing swordplay upstairs when we enter the house.

"Well, I guess this means I have time to research more about Dimitri," Robin says.

"I have an idea of what he might be after," I say, "But I think it's best to let you see what you discover on your own before comparing thoughts."

Robin gets on his computer and starts typing and scrolling away, leaving me alone. What do people normally do when they're not eating, sleeping, or working? I guess doing more research on current affairs can't hurt, but I hate tapping away at my phone. Robin has to take a break from his digging to attend meetings, so Morgan and Lucina are done practicing and showering before he's finished with his research on Dimitri. I'm in the living room surfing the web on my phone when Morgan comes in with wet hair wearing a t-shirt with no bra underneath.

"Hey, Claude. How was your trip?"

"I hate car rides. And the person I love turned from a sweet boy to a man bent on violence and revenge."

"That's rough, buddy."

I raise an eyebrow at her, and when she grins I can tell that she knows the meme she's referencing.

"Anyways, wanna play some more Mario Kart?"

I don't have a reason to say no, so I pass the time by losing every race to Morgan. We also try out that cooking game she mentioned, which is good because it's co-op and bad because I'm still trash at it. Before I know it, dinner is ready and I enter the kitchen to find that Lucina's grilled up hamburgers for us.

"Ugh, the food here is so _good_," Morgan says. "I don't ever want to go back to Ylisse."

"Well, one of the main differences is the availability of salt," Robin says. "That's honestly a big factor in why I'm considering trying to develop industrial mining in Ylisse. If we can get cheap salt to everyone, food will be much better."

"Not to mention that Europe pillaged half the world in large part for their native foods," Lucina says. "Which is a practice we are certainly not planning on taking back with us."

"Hopefully we can find ways to break down trade route monopolies, though," Robin says. "Anyways, this is as delicious as always. One of these days you'll have to teach me how to use the grill."

"For someone who can take apart a computer and figure out how it works, I'm amazed that a grill is your nemesis," Lucina says.

"Enough of your boring adult talk," Morgan says. "Claude, why don't you tell us some more about what happened today?"

I recount my experiences talking to Ashe and Dimitri. When I mention feeling bad that I wasn't crushed to see Dimitri in such a bad state, Lucina puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Oh, that's not even close to the worst thing that I've seen lovers do," she says. "I was this close to killing Robin after we were married."

Robin smirks. "I didn't think you were going to bring that up."

"What, what?" Morgan says, mouth still full of food.

"Was this on purpose?" I say.

"Uh, yeah," Lucina says. "I think Morgan told you a bit about how Robin had the spirit of an evil, godlike dragon inside of him?"

"Something like that."

"I may or may not have come close to killing him in hopes of taking the dragon down with him."

"Hey mom." Morgan's face goes white. "What the fuck."

"I don't have any hard feelings about it," Robin says. "And hey, she didn't do it. That counts for a lot."

"I'm not sure if I feel better about my actions after hearing that," I say. "Maybe just more confused."

Lucina laughs. "If you ever need more confusing anecdotes, you can talk to me."

"I'll say." Morgan crosses her arms, but then grins after a moment. "But to be fair, dad _was _pretty sus. Clearly an impostor."

I exchange a glance with Robin and Lucina.

"Sus?" I say. "Impostor?"

"Oh, get with the times." Morgan pauses. "Though you get a pass, Claude, since you've been out of the dimension for the past five years. One of these days I'm going to show you Among Us. If you have online friends who want to play, let me know."

Online gaming might not be a bad way to keep in touch with friends, actually.

"My comedic genius goes unappreciated yet again," Morgan says. "Well thanks for the grub, mom. That was great. Is there enough for me to have seconds?"

There was indeed enough, and I'm continually amazed at how much food Morgan can consume. I guess being high energy all the time requires an equally high caloric intake.

After dinner, I offer to help with cleanup and Lucina chats with me while passing rinsed dishes to load.

"While you were gone, I was thinking about what you might need," she says. "I'm planning to go out and get you a computer and some sets of clothes tomorrow. What else can I get you?"

"Are you sure you're okay buying me a computer?" I say. "I mean, assuming that's your intention. I'm totally fine paying you back once I have the means to as well."

"Gold sells for enough that we have more money than we'll ever need," Lucina says. "Being a princess has some benefits."

"You're a princess?"

"Oh, did I never tell you? Yeah, my dad Chrom's the Exalt of Ylisse. You can ask Robin about him, since they're all buddy-buddy."

Lucina's dad… I've never really thought about her having parents before. She was always so adult-like to me, and having never seen my parents interact with my grandparents I never consider that adults do indeed have parents.

"I'll let you know if there's anything else I need, but right now a laptop and clothes sound great. The computer doesn't have to be anything fancy, and I can either come with for the clothes or tell you my size."

"It's going to be Robin's backup laptop if you decide to go back to Fódlan, and he'll want it to be good enough to use for work." She smirks. "That also means you should delete the porn on it before heading off."

"Not interested in most porn," I say. "Icky power dynamics and all that."

"Damn, no question fazes you, huh?"

I shrug. "Is it different for you? Everything here seems so docile after being in an active warzone, even though I know people are suffering."

"Right. Whenever I think about the concentration camps set up near the border, I…" She exhales. "I wonder if I should be doing more, but all I'm really good at his hitting things with a sword. I've donated a bunch of our money to charities helping refugees, but I don't know if that's enough."

"It's not your responsibility to clean up our messes, either," I say. "It's odd, though. I already miss Fódlan because even though I was against Byleth's god-powers, I could struggle and have at least a chance of shaping the world to make it a better place."

"You defended your classmates and ensured that many of the assailants couldn't hurt anyone again on that day five years ago," Lucina says. "Isn't that worth something to you?"

"You're praising my killing spree of all things?"

"We're all killers here, Claude. We know what wars are like, and we don't begrudge you for fighting."

Maybe that's why I feel at home with Lucina and Robin. Normally I mesh better with other queer people since we have similar perspectives and experiences, and it makes sense that I get a different version of that sensation with other medieval fantasy soldiers. At this point, being Claude von Riegan from the Leicester Alliance is something I can never leave behind.

I don't know what it says about me that being in a house with killers makes me more comfortable, but that night I drift off into a peaceful sleep almost immediately after my head hits the pillow.

#

The next morning, Robin shares his findings with me on Dimitri.

"You went to school with a girl called Edelgard Hresvelg, right?" he says. "She was the one who called Arundel on Rhea."

"Yep. I have a few choice words for her that I'll bring up if they're relevant."

"Seems like Dimitri is plotting to kill her."

"Ah. Well, that lines up with what's going on in Fódlan."

"I don't think it will work, but I can keep tabs on him." Robin frowns. "Are you planning to go back to Fódlan soon?"

Byleth's next move is to conquer the Kingdom by marching into Fhirdiad and unseating Cornelia. Honestly, I don't think there's much I can do to stop them at this point.

"Oh, and unrelated news," Robin says. "Rhea broke out of prison."

I blink. "She what?"

"She was charged and sentenced for covering up sexual assault cases from priests. But there was a prison break involving some of the security guards at the Catholic school who seem to have a powerful backing with the church."

So things are getting spicy. I wonder if this means that Rhea was being held captive and escaped her prison in Enbarr over on Fódlan. I remember that Judith's spies were confident that she was captured and not killed.

"Maybe I can use the events here on Earth to track what's happening over on Fódlan and see if I need to hop over," I say. "I don't want to risk bringing COVID over unless I'm convinced shit is about to go down."

Robin nods. "I'm also in the process of setting up our own COVID tests for our house, so we can cut down a lot of the risk of you bringing the virus over if you do travel back."

"Is there anything you can't do?"

"I'm… not sure how to respond to that. I guess winning at Mario Kart is always beyond my reach."

"If that's your biggest weakness in life, I'd say you're set."

We move on to talk about other household business matters. He also asks if I need anything else, at which I say no. He then inquires about laptops I prefer, and I tell him I don't have a preference. Finally, he brings up the idea that I might want to quarantine in the house if I'm planning to jump back to Fódlan at a moment's notice, which I agree to. It's going to be annoying staying inside day in and day out, but I don't think the luxury of modern American life will wear off that quickly on me.

The days pass into weeks, and I kill time by surfing the web and playing video games with Morgan. Many of my friends are busy, but I also do my best to reconnect with them and chat in zoom calls. Lysithea demands Fódlan updates and tells me how she's pursuing college at an Ivy League university, which doesn't surprise me. Ignatz is glad to hear I'm safe and says he's been working at his parents' small business in rural Washington. The fact that he's not imprisoned on Earth after Byleth captured him is a pleasant surprise. I assume that he was allowed to continue resuming his life in Fódlan after the Alliance was subjugated. I catch up with Dorothea, who talks about wanting to move to LA and break into the acting industry. I believe in her to seize her dreams, especially since she already has a track record as a child star.

I also message Dimitri, but get left on read every time. I consider sending resources on seeking therapy, but if he won't even chat with me I'm guessing that me suggesting counseling will only aggravate him further.

When I talk to Morgan about my friends, she mentions that "Among Us" game again. I go and watch some streamers and youtubers play the game, and it looks fun enough. It's a hidden identities game like Werewolf but set on a spaceship or space colony where the regular crewmates try to figure out who the impostors are while the impostors try to blend in and kill crewmates. And to prevent everyone from grouping together, all crewmates have their own tasks that they need to perform and imposters can sabotage areas of the map that crewmates have to deal with.

Morgan thinks that she can rope her parents into joining us, so with me and her that means we need six more people for a full lobby of ten. Ashe, Ignatz, Dorothea, and Lysithea all agree to join, and Ashe suggests including Ingrid and Annette. He also mentions that Sylvain plays but I can tell he remembers how much Sylvain and I didn't get along, even compared to Ingrid being racist towards me. Also, he says that Annette is down after Mercedes passed and wants to keep herself busy. So no Syvain.

Which means that somehow, we get a full party of ten people playing Among Us semi-consistently. And honestly? It's a blast getting to see everyone again and track their in-game tendencies. Morgan is the one with the most experience and is also the loudest, so she tends to dominate the conversations. Dorothea is the best impostor of the group since nobody can tell when she's lying and she always seems to know how to deflect attention and appear non-suspicious. Annette tunnel-visions on the tasks and ends up getting herself separated from the group and killed early most games, to the point that we make a rule that we have to try not to kill Annette early so that she can enjoy the game too. Ashe and Ignatz are good crewmate players but they both are bad liars and don't usually kill in the most strategic locations as impostor. Ingrid and Lucina are patient and quiet, usually sticking with the group and taking impostor games slow so they can line up the perfect kill. Robin and Lysithea start off struggling but pull out the mad science technology and find little tricks to root out imposters as crewmate and go for unorthodox kills as imposter.

I wonder if Dimitri would have liked this game. Before he… well, maybe it's not too healthy for me to think about that. I do keep checking in on him, and he keeps leaving me on read. I wonder if that's better or worse than him not looking at the messages entirely.

I surprise myself with how I'm able to keep busy when I really have nothing to do. I play through Morgan's RPGs and keep losing to her at Mario Kart. I catch up on the entertainment I missed over the past five years, and watch all the new Marvel movies with Lucina, who surprises me with her passion for superhero media. It all feels like a good dream that I'm about to wake up from.

And then one day, I do. About a month and a half after I first arrived, Robin tells me that Edelgard is rallying against Rhea and the Catholic group sheltering her while Dimitri has started his prowl. He's confident that they're going to confront each other soon. Everyone in the family has been getting tested every other day using the COVID tests Robin obtained, and they all came back negative.

I'm surprised at how quickly I flip the switch and get back in the mindset of being a Fódlan leader given how I spent six weeks essentially being a deadbeat kid in their 20s. I decide to head back to Fódlan a couple hours after Robin breaks the news. I send goodbye messages to all my friends, telling them that I'll be off the grid for an indeterminate amount of time and that I hope they keep playing Among Us with Lucina's family.

After that, it's time to say goodbye to the people who are the first real family I've ever had. Nobody gets all weepy like in the movies when someone leaves for war, which I attribute to everyone in the house being a soldier, but Lucina does hug me and tell me to stay safe in Fódlan. I can tell that she doesn't want me to go, but she doesn't say it. I'm sure she understands what it's like to throw yourself in danger to try and protect the people you care about. After Lucina hugs me, Morgan is next, and while embracing me she tells me about how nice it was to have me around the house and how much more fun I made everything. I don't think I've ever heard someone call me fun before, and I linger on her words as Robin hugs me last. He tells me to return home if possible even for a couple of hours here and there if I have the free time. I think I'll take him up on his offer, since while I eat good Earth food I can also strategize military or political situations with Robin.

And that's it. All my stuff is going to stay here at the house in case I need it again. It's so strange to have a stable place I can fall back on if shit hits the fan. It blows my mind thinking that some people live their whole lives like this. I wonder if they appreciate it.

I go out into the woods near Lucina's house, far enough off any sort of trail that nobody should be around to witness my return. I take a deep breath and clasp my Falchion pendant.

Fódlan, here I come. I wonder if this time will be the last.

* * *

**Dimitri kinda sus. **

**Hey, everyone. :) I'm hoping to squeeze in another chapter or two before November hits and I try to write a novel in a month. Honestly sometimes it seems like writing a novel is so much easier than a fanfic because I have way fewer character and it's way shorter (gonna try to keep the novel I write next month to 80k words and this is already 150k).**

**I changed up some of the Crimson Flower story beats to make sure "Kill every last one of them!" Dimitri could still make an appearance, so we'll hear about more of what went down offscreen next chapter. **

**Hope you all have a great day! :D **


	29. Chapter 24: City of Snow and Flames

I appear at the center of Gronder Field with the sun smiling down at me and a gentle breeze passing by. When the wind gets into my shirt and pants I look down and realize how scuffed up my outfit is. Must not have noticed all the tears while I was in the middle of a life or death situation. I focus my attention back at the field in front of me. It's deathly silent, but I don't see any corpses.

On Earth, Edelgard is preparing to fight Rhea, and Dimitri is looking to intervene. I have to assume that the same events are brewing in Fódlan. But where could Rhea be? If she's in an area that's not controlled by Edelgard, she must be in the Kingdom. But aren't Cornelia and Those Who Slither in the Dark in charge of Faerghus now? It will be a long hike to figure out.

"Hey you!" comes a voice I don't recognize from behind. "I thought they were pulling my leg, but you did show up."

I turn around to see a what looks like a farmer, given that he's carrying a farming hoe. Now that I think about it, I remember reading that this area is known for its wheat production in the Empire.

"Sorry," I say. "Who are you?"

"Man, you do look like the fancy sort. Minus the beat-up clothes, anyway."

"Have we met before?" I say.

"Oh, no. I was told to look out for someone wearing clothes like yours. Some folks down that-a-way wanted to see you."

He points in a direction away from the westward setting sun. So following his direction will take me further away from Garreg Mach in the Kingdom. Not like it matters much in the long run. The better question is who from the Empire wants to see me? I'm sure Byleth and the other Black Eagles are busy pillaging the Kingdom, and even if they weren't I don't think this is the best place for them to hole up. So I can rule out all of them.

"How did they know I was coming?" I say.

"Didn't ask. They were fancy types like you. I'm not in the business of asking them questions."

Well, that doesn't narrow it down much. Basically everyone I know here is fancy by common farmer standards.

"You'll want to head in that direction," the man points again, "And find a path into the woods with a little sign saying 'private residence—keep out.' Follow the trail until you reach a log cabin. That's what the man told me, anyway."

So there was a man giving orders, but there were multiple of them? I wonder if Dimitri's in the area, but that doesn't sound right. He wasn't going to communicate with farmers about me, and there's no way that Edelgard let him hide out in a wooden cabin. I thank the man for directions and head in the direction he sent me. I wonder if it could be a trap, but I also don't think I'm important enough for anyone to care enough about ensnaring me. That's one of the hidden beauties to losing a war, I suppose. I'm safer now than I ever was during the five years after Byleth disappeared. It's in Edelgard's best interests to keep me alive, since if she kills me then the Kingdom lords will fight to the bitter end with knowledge that surrendering will send them to an early grave.

It doesn't take long to reach the woods, and I do see the sign the farmer was talking about. Not the most motivating message to push me forward, but I'm glad it's not inviting. Again, you don't lead someone into a trap by trying to repel them.

And sure enough, after walking along the forest path for less than an hour I come across a house. "Log cabin" doesn't capture its size, charm, and quality. It's not quite a lord's manor, but it's close. Whoever lives here must have a lot of resources and a desire to remain hidden. Who do I know that could fit such a description…?

No point in dallying further. I walk up to the door and knock. Footsteps approach me, and I decide at the last second to leap out of the way and hide behind one of the side walls of the house. I see the door crack open, and it remains in that state for several seconds. Then a man steps out and looks around.

Seteth. What is a priest of Seiros doing here in the Empire?

I walk out behind my cover with my hands in the air to let him know I'm not planning anything. When he sees me, a smile pops onto his face. His expression is fatherly in a way that I saw from Robin talking to Morgan and never from my own dad. It makes me miss home with Lucina's family already.

"I'm not here to hurt you, Claude," Seteth says. "You clothes look like they've seen better days. Why don't I get you a replacement set and you can change out in the woods?"

Before I can answer, he closes the door. He's out a few minutes later with a uniform from the Officers Academy. Guess they had extras that weren't in high demand after the school fell to ruin. He tosses them to me and gestures out towards the trees. I heard him fine the first time, but I don't comment. I go out into the sea of wood and leaves to change. This makes me feel like a dryad or something, being naked out here for a few seconds.

The uniform fits me well, even though it's a little more snug than the ones I wore five years ago. Maybe I've grown an inch or two since then? I never had the energy to keep track of my height and weight while I was bouncing between schools or prepping for war in Fódlan.

I knock on the door again, and this time I don't bolt away. Seteth opens the door and lets me into the house. As soon as I step in, I see his sister Flayn with a closed book in hand, staring at me. She looks excited, though I can't fathom why.

"Oh, it is so wonderful to have a visitor," Flayn says. "Please, Claude, make yourself at home."

"I'm sure you have lots of questions," Seteth says. "Let us congregate in the reading room so we can discuss matters."

Reading room, huh? Guess there's not much else to do when you live out in the middle of nowhere. I follow Seteth into a room containing shelves stuffed with books. He and Flayn sit next to each other on a velvet sofa, and he gestures for me to take the chair across from them.

"I am astonished to find that the professor's words are true," Flayn says. "You are here in flesh and blood after nobody has heard from you in over a month."

"Byleth mentioned me?" I say. "And, uh, aren't you with the Church of Seiros? I thought you were at war with the Empire."

"The Church of Serios is indeed still fighting Edelgard," Seteth says. "But I'm starting to think that Flayn and I should never have gotten involved in it. Excuse me for a moment."

Seteth leaves the room. My gaze follows him out before going back to Flayn. She's smiling at me like a child with a big lollipop. Then again, how old is Flayn? She has the stature of a child, but doesn't hold herself like one and certainly doesn't talk like one. She could be anywhere from ten to her mid-twenties and I wouldn't be surprised.

"Oh, I must thank you for your assistance all those years ago," Flayn says. "You were part of the group that rescued me, were you not?"

I think back to when Byleth's class and I fought agains the Flame Emperor's forces to rescue Flayn and Monica. I wonder if Byleth had any idea that Edelgard was the Flame Emperor back then.

"I'm glad to see that you're safe," I say. "What have you been up to for the past five years?"

"Well…" she clasps her hands together. "Brother wanted us to live in safety. Most of the Church staff joined the Knights of Seiros in searching for Rhea, and we did assist when needed, but we sheltered in the Kingdom for most of the time."

"Speaking of which," I say. "Did the Knights find Rhea, by any chance?"

Her eyes light up in surprise. I see that I've hit the jackpot.

At that moment, Seteth returns with a steaming teapot and three teacups. He pours each of us tea that's colored a deep red, the sort that I imagine going with little cakes in Victorian England. He takes a sip immediately, even though it looks scorching hot.

"Rhea appeared right after the Battle at Gronder," Seteth says. "Or rather, the Knights of Seiros rescued her. It was Catherine and Shamir who broke her out of Enbarr. They had been planning the mission for years, and the Empire's main armies being away gave them time to make their move."

So it's because I stalled them out, in a way. Though I didn't buy nearly as much time as I could have, since I was trying to end the conflict without needless bloodshed.

"Rhea was changed by her captivity," Flayn says, looking at her feet. "It was a sorrowful sight to behold."

"Changed?" I say.

Seteth sighs. "The only thing on her remind was revenge. She considers Byleth to be a traitor beyond all proportions, and will stop at nothing to kill them."

Not so different from how I see them, then.

"She wasn't exactly the forgiving type when we knew her as well," I say.

"Ah, I'm afraid you saw the worst sides of her at the monastery," Seteth says. "Still, that seems to be who she is now. She was always a warrior first and foremost. She might have it in her to defeat Byleth, even with…"

"Even with what?" I say.

"Perhaps I should not have said that."

"Okay, let's stop beating around the bush here," I say. "Are you aware that Byleth absorbed the Goddess Sothis into their body or something crazy like that?"

Seteth's eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"Byelth told me," I say. "The goddess' power gives them control over time. I don't think anyone on this world is capable of stopping them."

"Oh dear," Flayn says. "That explains how they foresaw all of our strategies and military maneuvers."

"Do you know… what Byleth is?" Seteth says. "The person, I mean."

"As opposed to…?"

"I figured out soon before Byleth defected that Rhea was up to some questionable experiments. I believe Byleth was a result of her creating vessels that she hoped the goddess would fill."

A sickening feeling takes my stomach. Does Byleth know about this? That they were supposed to be a puppet for the goddess? I'm sure they did, now that I think about it.

"The Throne of Knowledge," I say. "That was when Rhea wanted Sothis to quash Byleth and take over their body."

Seteth averts his gaze. "You catch on quickly."

"Five years too late for it to be any good," I say. "Now I see why Byleth sided with the Empire. Wouldn't you, if you were created to provide a bodily house for a spirit parasite and your choice was between the parasite's origin and a student you care about?"

I force myself to exhale, and then I take a sip of the tea Seteth prepared. I can't believe I'm feeling bad for Byleth of all people.

"That is not the way I would describe the goddess," Seteth says, "But I see your point. I still believe that Byleth is a traitor and is walking the wrong path, but I can't deny that some of the blame lies with Rhea."

In a way, it's almost poetic justice. Rhea tries to create a puppet vessel for Sothis to control, and instead Byleth absorbs Sothis' powers and unleashes them to tear down the church. If only they didn't have to conquer the Kingdom and Alliance as well.

"My brother tells me that you distanced yourself and the Alliance from the church," Flayn says. "We both think that may have been a wise decision on your part."

"Rhea will sacrifice anything to destroy Byleth," Seteth says. "She compares them to Nemesis."

So I guess that's the Fódlan equivalent of the Hitler comparisons we get on Earth. But honestly, I don't know how different Byleth is from a crazed, bloodthirsty conqueror like Nemesis. Edelgard, Byleth, Rhea, Dimitri… Everyone on all sides seems like they're full of shit.

"I want to go back a bit in the conversation," I say. "Flayn, you implied that you fought against Byleth?"

"That's right," she says. "After Rhea returned to us, the Church of Seiros took control of Fhirdiad as its base of operations. We sent out legions of dedicated soldiers to reclaim Garreg Mach, but we lost the fight."

"Rhea waltzed in and seized Fhirdiad?" I say. "What happened to Cornelia?

"The people and Kingdom army alike were rioting against her," Seteth says. "When the Archbishop showed up at the gates of Fhirdiad, they were ready to overthrow her in a heartbeat."

So Those Who Slither in the Dark fall that easily? Or maybe they got everything they needed out of the Kingdom and decided to abandon ship.

"So the Knights took control of the Kingdom and attacked the Empire head on and lost," I say. "And you were involved in that?"

"We both fought Byleth," Seteth says, "And they spared us both. I was already hesitant to back Rhea and her quest to destroy the Empire, and that sealed our decision."

"I was so scared, fighting on the battlefield," Flayn says, "If Byleth had been a different person, then…"

Then she'd have ended up like Marianne. Raphael. Judith. Mercedes. Leonie. I hope I don't have to add any more names to that list.

"After the battle," Seteth says, "Byleth told us that you were going to reappear in Gronder Field where you were defeated before. They weren't sure if it was going to be weeks, months, or years. They described it as if you were in the darkness of Zaharas, but different."

"Yeah, that's a good way of thinking about it," I say. "I went through a portal that didn't take me to anywhere you can find on a world map, and now I'm back."

Maybe this whole dimension hopping thing is more comprehensible to the people in Fódlan who already know that teleportation and magic bullshit exist.

"They told us to talk with you and explain the situation," Flayn says.

"Byleth is going to attack Fhirdiad soon, and they had a feeling you'd show up before then," Seteth adds. "They wanted you to be around to protect civilains from crossfire."

So they trust me not to turn my bow against them. Though it's not like I have a weapon with me at all. Failnaught snapped in the last fight, and I wasn't carrying any spares with me. I should probably take a page out of Byleth's book and always have multiple extra weapons on me.

"All right," I say. "I think that's something I can do."

Am I going to stay on the sidelines and escort civilians out instead of standing against Byleth? If I do raise a weapon against them, then our deal is off and they're free to kill the people I call friends. That must be why they're so confident in assigning me to protect the vulnerable. Maybe I will stick around after the war is over to see how they manage Fódlan. With their godlike powers, they could overthrow Edelgard if they wanted to and claim the entire continent for themselves. Or maybe Hubert will decide that they're too dangerous, and Byleth will fall to mysterious causes a couple months after Fódlan achieves peace. Honestly, I could live with either one of those outcomes.

"You looked deep in thought," Flayn says. "Do you wish to share your findings with us?"

"Ah, nothing. This whole situation is… complicated. But I do want to protect people if I can."

Seteth nods. "After we finish our tea, I can show you something that will help your mission."

He's the one who finishes his cup first, and he exits the room again without saying where he's going.

"It is quite noble," Flayn says. "You devoting yourself to protecting civilians, I mean. I too wish to be more involved in ensuring peace in this world, but my brother insists that we remain safe and cloistered."

"Are you under some sort of threat?" I say. "At first I thought Seteth was paranoid, but you did get kidnapped. Uh, sorry if that brings up bad memories."

"There is no need for apologies. My brother… has good reason for wanting to ensure our safety. That doesn't make it any less isolating."

Ah. Poor kid. I can see now why she was so friendly and social at the monastery, since it sounds like that was her first time around lots of people.

"After the war's over, do you think that you'll be safe?" I say.

"There are… vicious people out there," Flayn says. "So long as they remain, we must hide from them."

From her tone, her words seem directed at a specific group.

"You mean the people like Solon and Kronya?"

"I believe so. Honestly, my brother does not enlighten me with many of the details."

Why would Those Who Slither in the Dark want Flayn and Seteth?

"Does it have anything to do with your connection to Rhea? Seteth seems quite close to her, and I know they hate her."

Flayn bows her head. "I… am not supposed to say."

Sounds like a yes to me, then. What could it be, then? What makes the three of them so special? My mind tugs at rumors I heard from the battle at Garreg Mach five years ago. After Byleth sent me back to Earth, they suffered the only defeat of their military career. And it was at the hands of Rhea, because she turned into…

"Are you and Seteth dragons as well?" I say.

Flayn's wide eyes betray the truth.

"We cannot… we lost the ability to change our form a long time ago."

"How long?"

Seteth enters the room, carrying Failnaught and two other bows. Failnaught has a new bowstring and looks as good as new, while the others look sturdier and more high-quality than bows I'm used to.

"Byleth repaired these and told me to give them to you," Seteth says, "Along with instructions to use the non-relic bows when you want to preserve Failnaught. The non-relics are essentially refined versions of standard weapons."

Huh. I'm surprised Byleth didn't pass along some bullhead fish to supposedly boost my speed.

"There's something else I need to show you," Seteth says. "Follow me."

I walk behind as he leads me out of the house and into the forest. I resist the urge to ask what he could possibly want to show me out here. Whatever it is, I'm sure I'll know soon enough. As we approach, I hear a familiar growling noise. Could it be…?

Seteth steps out into a clearing to reveal a stable with two wyverns. One of them is his, and the other is Omar.

Before I fully comprehend it, I'm running towards Omar. I press my cheek on his scaly snout and feel his warm breath wash over me. I give him a scratch under the chin and then look over at his wing. Where there was a hole from a ballista bolt before, I now don't even see signs of scarring. I look back at Seteth, who's smiling at me.

"It's always fortunate to run into someone who cares about wyverns in the same way that I do," he says. "Byleth found him and healed him up, and tasked me with looking after him after our battle."

Byleth again, huh? They could have got me another wyvern to fly, but they knew how much Omar meant to me and made sure that he was found and taken care of. It's enough to make me wonder if they weren't _entirely_ pretending to care about me. Which, if I'm thinking like a cold-hearted businessperson, could be my ticket to a stable life. On Earth I'm wanted for mass murder, but here I'm reasonably important and might have an in with the legendary general who unified Fódlan and could get me a cushy administration position. Sure, Edelgard is planning to get rid of the nobility system, but we don't have that on Earth and people mostly get good jobs with the connections they have rather than their skills. I can't see Fódlan being any different.

"If you need some more time to think," Seteth says, "You're welcome to stay with us for a few days."

"Thanks for the offer, but I made up my mind before coming here," I say. "I need to head off as soon as possible if I want to be ready for what's about to happen in Fhirdiad."

Seteh nods. "I'll load you up with some rations and then you can head off. I hope all goes well for you. Kids your age shouldn't be getting dragged into these messes."

Should have considered that before participating in a school that trains child soldiers. Though I guess I can't blame him for a school that Rhea headed. I smile in thanks and Seteth is back off. He and Flayn return a few minutes later with packs of hard bread and salted pork that can fit into wyvern saddle pouches. Seteth also made sure to include plenty of meat for Omar as well as me.

"Thanks for everything," I say. "I'll try to create a world where you can live safely."

"I appreciate it," Seteth says, "Though I hope you'll forgive me for not planning on it happening anytime soon."

"It was so nice to see you," Flayn says. "Please visit anytime. Brother and I would love to have you again."

"After the war's over, I should have the time. See you later."

I take Omar out of the stable, saddle up, and have him fly up into the sky. The motions are natural to me, even after a month and a half away on Earth. Flayn jumps and waves goodbye while I ascend, and I wave back.

I think that this is the first time something's gone right for me in Fódlan, and it's because I wasn't pitted against Byleth. Maybe I'll be happier if I accept that I'll never be better than them.

#

I'm amazed at how quickly I make it to the Kingdom. The fastest route is through the Alliance and across the mountain range, but I'm not sure Omar can handle that kind of flight. He seems in shape so I assume that Seteth has been taking him on flights to keep him from going stir-crazy, but trying to crest those mountaintops seems like a bad idea. So instead, I pass by Garreg Mach and go to the Kingdom directly.

And sure enough, Omar starts to slow down once we get to Faerghus and the snow hits. Which makes sense, since wyverns are ectotherms like other reptiles and rely on the ambient temperature being warm enough for their cell biology to function appropriately. The good news is that Omar doesn't immediately shut down like a small lizard because he's big enough that his body conserves a lot of heat, but I see why the Kingdom relies on pegasus knights instead of wyvern riders for aerial combat.

His wings must be getting the worst of it since they're exposed to so much air with basically no insulation. After Omar starts to struggle, I have him land and we continue on foot. Omar's not the fastest or most graceful walker, but he seems happier than he was when flying through the frigid air. We rest a night at an inn on the way (thank goodness I have some gold on me), and we continue the next morning. With bouts of flying mixed with walking, we reach Fhirdiad by noon.

The Knights of Seiros are standing guard in front of the entrance gate, which makes me reconsider my options. I doubt they're friendly to me given that I abandoned the church after they sent Marianne to her death. If Rhea's back in charge, she might imprison me on sight.

I decide to have Omar fly me over the walls and drop me off. I can't exactly walk through the streets with a wyvern and not attract attention, so I'll have to gather information on my own. It's oddly easy to find a part of the wall where nobody is watching and have Omar land on an empty street. I hop off, take some of the rations, and tell him to stay close by. I feed him some extra meat and send him off. He's well-trained enough that he won't abandon me or get lost on his own.

As I walk through the streets, I come to the realization that most of them are quiet. The only people present are the ones huddling with dirty blankets for warmth. They look up at me with eyes too dead to hope. Yeesh, this is worse than the homeless problem in Seattle. I've never been to Fhirdiad before, but this can't be normal. Even in wartime, Derdriu was never like this.

And it's my fault, isn't it? If I hadn't stood in Byleth's and Edelgard's way, they could have dealt with this problem sooner. But then again, nobody was forcing them to attack the Alliance first. They put their goals of conquest ahead of the humanitarianism they espouse, and I had a duty to defend my lands and people. Still, it's amazing how much has changed in the last few months. The Alliance dissolved, Cornelia overthrown, and the Empire marching to the gates of Fhirdiad.

I'm not paying close attention to where I'm going, so I end up stumbling into a garden in front of a large building. I'm so entranced by the red and purple flowers living through the cold and the snow that I don't notice the person approaching me until they clear their throat.

"Are you a student here?"

I look up to see a woman with long, auburn hair in professor's robes. I know this person.

"Anette," I say.

She blinks, and then her eyes widen in recognition. "Claude? What are you doing here in Fhirdiad? I heard that you…"

"That I what?"

"You died at Gronder Field. That's what the other professors said, anyway."

Hearing the word professor makes me think of Byleth, but then I put two and two together. This must be the Royal School of Sorcery that trains the Kingdom's mages. I bet Annette went through here herself before going to Garreg Mach.

"So you got a cushy job here at the university?" I say. "Good for you."

"It's…" she lets out a sigh. "Thanks. But more importantly, why are you here?"

"Byleth and the Empire are about to attack. We need to evacuate the city."

Her face pales. "That's… ahem. We definitely need to get people to safety. But I'm just a magic professor." She looks at the ground. "Think, Anette. What are you going to do about this?"

"You might have a better in with Rhea than I do," I say. "Seeing as you went to her school recently and didn't cut ties with the church like another unnamed person in this conversation."

"I've got it," Annette says. "I know a knight. Not a Knight of Seiros… well, I do know one, but he hasn't talked to me in the past however many years so that's not going to work out. You remember Ashe, right?"

I nod. Now that I think about it, Ashe and Annette were the only two Blue Lions I didn't see at Gronder Field last month.

"He might be able to get us an audience with Rhea. Since he's like an important military person, or something."

"Sounds like a good of a shot as any."

"I don't have to teach for the rest of the day, and I can grade assignments after I'm sure that my students are safe. You ready to head there right now?"

"Sure."

Annette speedwalks through the streets of Fhirdiad. My legs are a good deal longer than hers, and I still have trouble keeping up. I'm not sure how she manages to fit so much energy inside a body that small. Eventually, we arrive at a military garrison with Faerghus knights stationed at the door.

"Professor Dominic," Annette says. "I'd like to speak with Ashe Ubert. It's urgent."

"A magic professor, eh?" one of the soldiers says. "We'll see if Ashe is in."

We're left waiting for a few minutes. I've only heard of "twiddling your thumbs" as a saying and never seen someone do it before, but Annette's are going wild while we're standing outside with nothing to do. She then begins playing with her hair, fidgeting in place, rubbing her arms… I want to say something about it being okay to relax, but honestly I'm not sure if that's true. We're dealing with a messy situation here.

The guard emerges and looks both of us over.

"If it's truly a serious matter, you may enter and interrupt Ashe's conversation. If not, he can meet with you at another time."

"Uh, well, that's okay," Annette says. "We wouldn't want to be a bother."

"You're this afraid of putting your foot down and you teach teenagers?" I say. "This could mean life or death. I think we should go in."

"I don't know how time-sensitive it is… Maybe we should wait for him to be done."

"Why don't you just go in?" the guard says. "I don't think he wants you to stand out here in the cold."

Annette breathes in and steps inside, looking even tenser. The guard gives us basic instructions on where to find the room where Ashe is. I decide to lead the way, which I hope helps with Annette's anxiety due to her not having to go first.

"Claude," Annette says. "I just realized something. You were in the Battle at Gronder, right?"

"Not my proudest moment, but yeah."

"What… happened to the Kingdom army there?"

Oh, shit. She doesn't know about Mercedes.

"They retreated, but I'm not sure if Byleth was able to capture most of them."

She nods, but from the way she looks at the ground I can tell that her brain is working overtime. I'm not sure if now is the best time to break the news about her friend, so I keep on walking. Before long, I reach the room where Ashe is talking with what sounds like an older man. The door is open, so I decide to walk in. The man spots me first and frowns at me. He has a pair of large scars on his face, one of which looks like it took his right eye out of commission. Ashe looks the same as when I saw him on Earth but in a warmer military outfit. Both of them are standing in front of a miniature model of the city.

"Now who are these children?" the man says. "Are you the ones who wanted to see us?"

Ashe turns around, flinching when he sees me.

"Claude? I thought you were…"

"Dead? Yeah, seems to be a recurring theme here."

"Hi, Ashe," Annette steps into the room. "And, uh…"

"The name's Gwendal," the older man says. "Right hand to Count Rowe. Nice to meet ya."

"We're discussing how to fortify the city," Ashe says. "Are you here to help us, Claude? I thought the Alliance fell to the Empire."

"Byleth is going to be here soon," I say. "We need to evacuate the city."

"That's what we came here for," Annette says. "We thought you might be able to talk with Lady Rhea, since you're all military and official."

Ashe exchanges a glance with Gwendal, then looks back at me. "We take orders from the Knights of Seiros, but there's not much authority going the other direction. I'd stay away from Rhea if I were you, Claude. She blames you and the Alliance for not unifying with the church-affiliated resistance forces before she took power."

And how exactly was I going to do that with a mountain range in between us and them? Sure, I could pass through Ailell, the Valley of Torment, but that's not a good means of travel when the environment is basically volcanic. Though I shouldn't be surprised Rhea's sense of logic is failing her now. I wonder if she ever had it to begin with.

"Right, but the city needs to be evacuated," I say. "Civilians could get hurt here."

"I agree," Ashe says, "And I'm happy to help you talk with the Knights of Seiros if that's what you need. Though if you have Annette with you, it might be easier to go to-"

"Stop," Annette says. "I… tried before, Ashe. He pretends I don't exist."

The room falls silent. I can tell that Gwendal is also confused as to who Annette and Ashe are talking about, but neither of us have the courage to bring it up.

"Gwendal, can this wait?" Ashe says. "It might be nice to at least get Annette an audience with Rhea. She's a leading scholar in Fhirdiad, so her word carries more weight than a soldier like you or me."

"Sure," Gwendal says. "But you know how it goes. The Church of Seiros don't like to listen to anyone other than the Church of Seiros."

Even Rhea and the Knights of Seiros won't ignore us when so many civilians are in danger… right? I try to reassure myself that I'm correct in my assessment as Ashe leads me and Annette out of the military garrison and back out onto the streets of Fhirdiad. Back to the empty marketplaces and people curled up into balls on the streets.

"I didn't know how dead this city was," I say.

Ashe lets out a sigh. He tosses silver pieces at a group of orphans who stare wide-eyed at us.

"Cornelia took everything from us," he says. "She claimed it was for the war effort, but I'm a soldier and I can tell you nothing she took made it to the military. In fact, we're still undermanned and don't have all the weapons we need."

So she must have spent those resources elsewhere. And on what?

"Ashe," Annette says. "Do you know what happened to the people who followed Prince Dimitri? I heard they clashed at Gronder Field, but…"

"No sign of them since. I'm not sure what Fhirdiad will do if His Highness returns." Ashe turns to me. "Most of us still believe that His Highness has the right to rule, but we are also devout believers. If it comes down to him and Rhea…"

Sounds gnarly. If it came down to that, it likely wouldn't matter who won out since Byleth could march over their corpses and claim Fhirdiad for the Empire. Defending Derdriu felt almost impossible, but the atmosphere in the air was never this hopeless. Ashe continues to lead us on until we arrive at an area where I see several Knights of Seiros standing guard. There, I recognize Catherine as one of the knights, as well as an older man with red hair like Annette's. I think his name is Gilbert?

"I don't like it either, Gustave," Catherine tells Gilbert, "But orders are orders."

"I understand duty, Cassandra," Gilbert says. "And I know you do as well."

"This feels different. Even when I hated turning in Cristophe, it felt like justice. This doesn't."

Ashe tenses in front of me. I glance over at Annette, who is staring daggers at Gilbert. Christophe… that's Ashe's older brother, right? I remember that Catherine turned him in because he was part of a plot to assassinate the king of Faerghus. Cristophe's death ended up making Ashe's father Lord Lonato angry enough to raise an army against the church.

"I think we have to talk to them," Ashe says. "Are you okay with this, Annette?"

"My father won't acknowledge me, but he should listen to you and Claude," Annette says. "Let's do this."

She steps forward towards the Knights of Seiros. Two of the other knights raise their weapons at her as she approaches, and I can tell they recognize her mage's robes. Catherine waves for them to stand down.

"Ah, Annette," Catherine says. "Greetings, Ashe. And… Claude."

Funny how her hesitant voice is reserved for me, not the guy whose brother she effectively killed.

"Claude's been scouting the area," Annette says. "Byleth and Edelgard are going to arrive soon. We need to evacuate the city. Can you get us a meeting with Lady Rhea?"

Catherine and Gilbert exchange a glance that's far too long for my liking. Catherine shakes her head and turns back to Annette.

"Seeing Lady Rhea is likely not wise at this time. She is… not in the best mood. Besides, we are aware of the situation."

"So are you evacuating the civilians?" I say. "Because it doesn't look like you are."

"Your words mean nothing, apostate," Gilbert says. "We are prepared to do as the goddess and Lady Rhea command."

"And what are you commanded to do right now?" Ashe says.

Good thing he said that when he did, because I was about to let loose with a quip that was going to get all of us in trouble. Before either of the knights can respond, I hear screaming in the distance. I look over to see smoke rising from a few blocks over.

"Shit," I say. "We need to put that out. We'll give you a hand and we can delay this conversation until later."

As I finish, I hear more shouts from a different direction and see a second fire in a different location. And then a third. One fire is a coincidence. But three has to be a plan, right? If Byleth is planning to torch Fhirdiad, I'm going to-

"Father," Annette says. "What's going on here?"

I look back to see that neither Gilbert nor Catherine have made a move to rally the knighst and deal with any of the fires. In fact, both of their gazes are pointed at the ground.

"I demand you to answer me," Annette says. "What are you doing?"

"I think you know the answer, Annette," Gilbert says. His voice is so soft I can barely make it out.

"I don't understand," Ashe says, looking around. "We need to help the city. Catherine, Gilbert, let's get moving so we can put out the fires."

"Sorry, Ashe," Catherine says, "But we're not planning on doing any such thing."

"And why is that?" I say.

After the words leave my mouth, I figure out the answer. I don't want to believe it. It's so heinous and cruel that I can't imagine it being true. But there really is no other explanation, is there?

"Because." Catherine looks up at me. "Lady Rhea was the one who commanded we set fire to the town so that it would halt the Empire. They are already at our gates."

And there it is. Despite Byleth's and Edelgard's brutal conquest, they look like the heroes compared to the war crimes Rhea is unleashing in front of my eyes.

"And you agreed?" Annette says. "Father, this is our home. Mother and I are still living here. What are you doing?"

She steps towards Gilbert, and a pair of knights step in front of him with blades drawn. I take Failnaught off my back, but don't nock an arrow from my quiver yet.

"Wait," Ashe says. "We don't have to do this. We're all on the same side here."

"Are we?" I say. "I'm against any side that burns down cities with civilians still inside."

"Don't deny your true motivations," Gilbert says. "You despise the Church of Seiros."

"I do now. I'll send you both to the eternal flames to stop this city from burning to ashes if I must."

See, I can swear like a real Fódlan person. Catherine draws her blade Thunderbrand and Gilbert raises his axe.

"I don't want to fight any of you," Catherine says. "Stand down and walk away, all of you. This isn't the hill to die on."

"Ashe," I say. "Annette. Are you prepared to protect the people of Fhirdiad?"

"Whatever keeps my mother safe," Annette says.

"Ashe?" I turn to him.

"We endured so much," Ashe says. "All of us in the Kingdom did. And here the two of you are, back after running away, trying to tear us apart again. I see now why you sealed Cristophe's fate, Catherine. You've always wanted death and destruction."

"Be rational, Ashe," Catherine says. "If you wanted to take your anger out on me, you should have done so when we were at Garreg Mach and we could have called it practice. Raise your bow against me and you join Cristophe and Lonato."

"Claude," Annette says. "What should we do?"

Ashe is also looking at me, waiting for me to say something. A legion of knights are standing at the ready. We're outnumbered and pitted against two of the most legendary warriors in the realm. I think the play here is obvious. I begin to back off, keeping my eyes on Catherine and Gilbert. Ashe and Annette fall back with me. After a few dozen steps, I'm far enough away that Catherine can't lunge at me and slice my head off before I can react.

"Good," Catherine says. "Remember that our true enemy is the Empire. Let's seal their defeat together."

I nock an arrow and point it at her. Catherine's eye twitches, and I can tell she realizes I was only trying to put space between us and her.

"About that," I say. "My enemies are the creatures hurting innocent people. You either go put out those fires right this second or I take out as many of your soldiers as I can. Understood?"

"You can't get me to abandon Lady Rhea that easily," Catherine says. "There's only one thing I won't do for her, and I'm not exactly afraid of that situation coming up. Ashe, Annette. Attack Claude at once."

I exhale. If I've misjudged either of them, it's game over for me. No Byleth on the other side to spare me this time.

"I won't let you hurt my mother," Annette says, "And this city will not burn down so long as I stand."

"And I'm not about to let this whole city meet Cristophe's fate for the same mistake of trusting you," Ashe says.

A gust of wind next to me alerts my attention to a disc of condensed wind floating above Annette's hand, sending her robes flapping. Ashe draws his bow and nocks an arrow. Catherine narrows her eyes and tenses her legs, looking like a leopard about to pounce.

"Then you've chosen death," she says.

* * *

**We're waiting on stuff I need to do my lab work, so I have more time to write. :) Can't complain about that.**

**In the Golden Deer route, Annette and Ashe are the only Blue Lions students that don't appear at Gronder field. Ashe is working with Gwendal for House Rowe, and Annette is nowhere to be seen. In Crimson Flower, both students defend Fhirdiad from the Black Eagles, but I thought it would make sense here if both of them were pissed at the people burning down their city. **

**Also for some reason the chapter scripts aren't on the wiki anymore so I can't check with canon as easily. *shrugs***

**Notes: **

**-Flayn and Seteth lived in the Empire for most of their life, and they can be spared by Byleth during the mission where the Church of Seiros attacks Garreg Mach (I didn't know this and killed both of them in CF... rip), so I thought having them be nearby to guide Claude made sense. **

**-In many of Annette's endings, she becomes a professor at the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery, so I gave her that occupation here **

**-Gustave and Cassandra are Gilbert and Catherine's birth names, and they refer to each other as such at times in their support conversations (I think)**


	30. Chapter 25: To the End of a Dream?

_Note: I listened to "Apex of the World" on loop while writing this chapter. If you want to relive this chapter of Crimson Flower (with some non-canon twists), I'd recommend doing the same while you read it. Hope you like the chapter! :)_

* * *

Catherine charges first. I let loose with a Fallen Star shot from Failnaught, and the arrow takes her in the shoulder. Dark wisps float up and merge with the smoke as she continues to barrel forward. We don't have anyone to stand in front and absorb her assault, do we? Fuck.

I dive to the side as Catherine lashes out at me with sword strokes as fast as greased lightning. Thunderbrand glows with sparks as she swings it to the side and sneers at me.

"Never took you for a coward, Claude."

"Keep telling yourself anyone who can dodge an attack is running away from you, Catherine," I say. "I'd hate to break your fragile ego."

She takes a deep breath, eyes alight with rage. But instead of distracting her and setting her off-tilt, she looks like she's drinking in the anger and using it to fuel her. Her grin is one I've seen on the faces of other soldiers who get lost in the rhythm of battle. The adrenaline rush, the here and now where all stress and anxiety fades away. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't appreciate those moments for what they are when I'm fighting, but Catherine looks utterly battlecrazed.

No Byleth to save me this time. Is this how I die?

"Excalibur!"

A vortex of wind rises from the ground beneath Catherine, and she's tossed against a nearby building. Score one for Annette. Catherine is bleeding from half a dozen places on her body, and the snow beneath her armor is stained red. She lets out a booming laugh and darts away into an alley, pulling out what I recognize as an elixir. That means she'll be back in the action with her wounds healed soon. I need to make the most of this time.

I whip around to see Ashe surrounded by a group of foot soldiers belonging to the Knights of Seiros while Gilbert advances in his heavy armor. Ashe already has several cuts across his body and gets another when he tries to draw his bow in melee range. I switch weapons to the Iron Bow Byleth gave me, which is lighter and allows me to fire shots in rapid succession. I take out some of the soldiers around Ashe and he's able to back up and finish the rest with the help of a fire blast from Annette.

Gilbert continues to approach, with several Knights surrounding him. Time to slow him down. I switch to my Killer Bow and take aim, looking for a spot in Gilbert's armor to punch through. I let loose with an Encloser combat art. The arrow I fire lands right in his knee in a chink between his armor. Critical hit. More importantly, it sends him stumbling and leaves him unable to advance. Time to clean up this rabble, then. Too bad I don't have my battalion with me right now, or I could have them black out the sky with arrows and rain projectiles down on the Knights of Seiros. "Ashes and Dust" is a fitting name indeed.

Instead, I take a blade from one of the downed Knights and brace myself for the Knights' charge. When they get close, I lunge first, sweeping my sword against a large group of them. Most of them manage to evade the blow, but that's okay. All I need to do is keep them at bay. Sur enough, when they leap away from my attack, more blasts of magic from Annette and more arrows from Ashe drop most of the front line.

"You sure you want to keep this going?" I say, pointing my blade at the Knights.

I can see their hesitation. A magical Cutting Gale from Annette that slices through an entire line of soldiers is the motivation they need to turn and run. Gilbert continues to drag himself forward.

"Faithless, all of them," he says. "This is how I atone for my sins and bask in the light of the goddess."

"By killing your own daughter?" I say. "This is a parent-child situation I know how to deal with."

I lunge at Gilbert with my blade. I can't find a way through his armor and my sword bounces off without leaving so much as a dent, and Gilbert wastes no time before swinging his axe in a wide arc. I manage to mostly leap out of the way, but the blade catches a part of my upper left arm. From where the pain is, I can tell me that it's not that deep, but I'll need to be careful taking any more attacks like that.

A few arrows fly through the air and slam into Gilbert's side, bouncing off his armor. He doesn't seem to notice them. The easiest way to break through solid armor like this is to use magic, which means I need to buy time for Annette to let loose with some spells. I dance around Gilbert, circling counter-clockwise to stay away from his axe arm. When I don't attack and focus on dodging, I'm able to predict his movements enough to leap out of the way. I picked up the skill while learning to fly a wyvern, since you have to be extra aware of your surroundings when you're in the air atop a large beast.

A shout of alarm sounds behind me. I leap back and risk a glance over my shoulder to see Catherine sprinting towards Ashe and Annette. Thunderbrand glows orange as Catherine drags it through the snow, leaving a melted path of bare ground behind the blade. I hear Gilbert's armor clanking closer and closer to me. Who do I go after?

I grit my teeth and swap to my Iron Bow, firing another Encloser shot at Catherine. It catches her in the leg and stops her charge for a second. I hear the woosh of Gilbert's axe swinging through the air a second too late. Pain lights up across my back as the weapon slams into me. I can't tell if the pain makes my mind fuzzy or I'm actually launched into the air, because it feels like I'm flying. I slam into the cold, wet ground.

If I stay still, I die.

I push through the throbbing and bring myself to my feet in time to step back from Gilbert's overhead axe swing. I can tell that my wound is bad, but for now my endorphins are keeping me alert and capable of fighting. Before long I'll need healing magic, but I can worry about that after I make sure Catherine doesn't cleave through all of us like I heard stories of her doing with Lonato's soldiers.

I dart away from Gilbert, trusting in myself to outrun him with my relative lack of armor. I switch to my blade and intercept Catherine right as she's about to drive Thunderbrand into Ashe. Our two swords lock, and her eyes narrow at me.

"We could have defeated the Empire together, Claude," she says, "But you chose to stand alone with the Alliance. Look where that got you."

The more time she spends talking, the less time she spends killing. I grunt and dislodge my sword from hers, swinging it at her in an arc. She stabs first, and I have to adjust my swing so I can knock hers out of the way. Because of the spikes on the side of Thunderbrand's blade, our swords get entangled again. An arrow catches Catherine in the side, and she blinks in response. Fucking _blinks. _

She resumes her lightning-fast attacks. The speed of Thunderbrand slicing through the air is almost superhuman, and I'm sent reeling back after a few attacks. Ashe's cover fire is the only thing keeping me from getting torn to shreds within seconds. Annette had better be making herself useful, because I don't see her doing anything to help me deal with the battlecrazed berserker over here.

"Father," Annette says. "Stand back. I'll blast you aside if I must."

"This is my punishment from the goddess," Gilbert says. "What a fitting one. I am sorry I must kill you, Annette."

I keep dodging around Catherine, but I'm not sure how much longer I can last. I'm tiring out, and Catherine hasn't slowed down at all since her initial charge. This woman is a rhino.

"Excalibur." Annette's somber voice cuts through the shouts and clangs of the battlefield like a knife.

Only when I hear Gilbert gasp and armor clanging to the ground do I risk a look. I know it's stupid, since the battle isn't going to change with my knowledge of what happened to Gilbert and I need to focus my attention on Catherine, but I can't help myself. Gilbert is lying on the ground, motionless and bleeding out into the snow. I can see tear streaks on Annette's face that are partially frozen from the cold. Her hands shake as she turns towards me and Catherine. She fires a blast of wind over my shoulder, and I turn back to see Catherine dodge it. A follow-up Sagittate spell slams into Catherine's torso, and when the light orbs burst she stumbles back. Ashe fires another arrow that takes her in the chest. That's what happens when your boob plate slopes inwards to direct attacks straight to the center of your chest where your heart is.

Catherine looks back and forth between the three of us.

"I never thought…" She coughs up blood. "Well played. Looks like we trained you well."

She raises her blade and I brace myself for her to charge again. Then she bolts away into a nearby alley. I'm not going to let her come back and fight us for a third time. I run after her and draw my iron bow, readying an encloser shot. Once I lock her down, I can switch to Failnaught and deliver the finishing blow with a Fallen Star. As I bolt forward, I feel a refreshing sensation around my back and the pain fades. It takes me a moment to register that Annette healed me. I mentally thank her, since I need to save my oxygen.

I follow into the alley and see her continuing to sprint away rather than healing up and returning for more. Huh. I fire an encloser shot, but she's able to take cover behind a crate and my shot goes wide. She bolts out of the alley onto the larger street on the other side. She looks me in the eye, throws Thunderbrand in one direction, and then runs off in the other.

The motion is surprising enough that it takes me a second to register what she did. It's not a bad ploy in the name of self-preservation. If I keep chasing after her, I might lose access to a powerful relic weapon for the rest of the fight. But I never expected it to come from Catherine.

What did she say about doing anything for Rhea, again? There was one thing she wouldn't do. When the truth dawns on me, I let out a dry laugh. She was willing to burn down the capital city of the land where she grew up at the whims of Rhea, but she wasn't willing to give her own life for the cause. What a spineless creature she turned out to be in the end.

I run out into the main street where Catherine fled and see Thunderbrand lying in a spot where it burned through the snow. No sign of the swordswoman herself. I'm itching to chase her down and ensure that she can't hurt anyone else, but Thunderbrand is the bigger catch. I jog over and pick up the blade, balancing it in my hands. It's surprisingly light, and like Failnaught has the same consistency as bone. Which is a bit creepy, so I'm not going to linger on that too long. I know that people without the Crest of Charon won't be able to unlock the full power of Thunderbrand and could suffer side effects, but it won't be nearly as bad as if I didn't have a crest at all. I can count on not turning into a Demonic Beast like Miklan did… I think.

I return to see Annette healing up Ashe. After a few seconds, the last of his wounds disappear.

"Wow," Ashe says, looking at Thunderbrand. "Did you manage to…"

"Not kill her. She tossed this away hoping I'd go after it instead of her. I hope I made the right choice."

"I've always wondered what it's like to be able to use a relic weapon," Ashe says. "I suppose right now is no time for daydreaming. I must return to Gwendal and report that the Knights of Seiros are responsible for these fires."

"I need to make sure my students are okay," Annette says. "Oh my gosh they must be so scared. I have to go now."

"I'll go with you," I say. "And I might have a faster way of getting us there."

I put my fingers in my mouth and let out my loudest whistle. A few moments later, Omar emerges from atop one of the burning buildings and flies down to greet me. I run a hand over the scales on his face. It might have been helpful to call him for the fight, but I'm not sure I had the time to mount him and it's hard to consider every angle when I'm in the middle of a life or death struggle.

"Hop on, Annette," I say. "We'll be across town in no time."

"Good luck," Ashe says. "You had better not die on me, all right?"

"Same to you," I say. "More lives are tied to yours then you realize."

He nods, which I think means he's not in the mood to decipher my vague language. Fair enough. I help Annette up onto Omar and then hop on myself. I tell her to wrap her arms around my stomach to make sure she stays on the wyvern. She squeezes a little hard and I can feel her arms shaking. Adrenaline, fear, I don't know why, and I don't have time to interrogate her about it. We're off into the air and flying over Fhirdiad.

It's only then that I realize how bad the fires are. The Knights of Seiros weren't trying to only torch the valuable parts of Fhirdiad and leave. The entire town is ablaze. At this rate, they'll burn entire city down to ashes and cinders. At the end of the day, Rhea can fly over a city of ruin in dragon form while smiling at Byleth's and Edelgard's charred corpses. Nothing else matters to her.

It doesn't take us long to reach the gardens where I first saw Annette. I hop off Omar and help Annette down, and while I'm doing that I instruct Omar to stay close. It's too bad that he can't hover right above the buildings because that's where the smoke is rising, so he has to either fight on the ground where he's less maneuverable or retreat to the upper skies where he won't be as useful. But I trust his animal instincts to take care of this one.

Annette runs under the main gateway of the university. Even the buildings here are burning, and the flames get worse the further in we go. Before long, I start to inhale smoke, and I end up coughing as we run. Annette skids to a halt in what looks like one of the main courtyards of the school where some Knights of Seiros have rounded up a group of teenagers in cadet uniforms similar to those we wore at the Officers Academy. At the head of the group is Shamir, who surveys the burning buildings around them with a neutral expression.

"We can wait all day until this city burns down and you fall with it," Shamir says, "Or you can be good little kids and help us accelerate the process. Rhea's going to have this city reduced to ashes either way, and this way you have a chance of getting your friends and family out while you fan the flames."

"If this is truly inevitable," one of the people in front says, "Then why does Rhea need our help? The fact that you're intimidating us shows that our resistance is having real effects."

"You know," Shamir says, "Some people are too smart for their own good."

She nocks an arrow and fires at the student who spoke. The shaft takes them in the throat, and they fall to the ground while the rest of the nearby students back away.

"Oh, you've made a mistake," Annette says.

I can feel the passive wind magic raiding off her, ruffling my hair and sending chills through my clothing. Annette darts forward, and I follow to provide cover fire. When Shamir sees Annette, she and a group of archers ready their bows and point them at the students.

"I dare you to let loose," Shamir says.

"You…" Sparks fly off Annette's fingertips.

"Nice to see you again, Shamir," I say.

She responds with a thin smile. "Glad to see you're not as easy to kill as I thought. How were the sights down at Gronder Field?"

"Warmer. And I don't think it's in your best interest to be following Rhea, Shamir."

Her eyes narrow. She's not the type of person to be caught off guard by something like this, so I'm guessing she was considering this line of logic herself.

"You know that Byleth and Edelgard are coming," I say. "Why else would she want to torch this city? And you know what Byleth means. You were there when they attacked Garreg Mach."

"Thunderbrand," Shamir says. "What happened to Catherine?"

"She's still alive. Gilbert wasn't so lucky."

"Hmph. That man was a fool. Not that Catherine is much different."

"And you have a survival instinct if you've made it this long as a mercenary. Byleth is going to win this war. If you don't want to join them, at least get out while you can."

"We can't let her go," Annette says. "Don't you see what she just did to one of the students?"

"Like Claude himself hasn't killed poor little adolescents who got drafted into the war," Shamir says. "We're all monsters, Annette. The difference is who's strong enough to admit it."

"If we fight, we're risking more civilian casualties," I say. "We need to let them go." To Shamir, "If you're willing to leave this behind you, that is."

Shamir takes a second to glance around at the smoke and flames. "You know, I'm interested to see how this plays out without me getting distracted by orders. Knights, we're falling back. Time to abandon Fhirdiad."

"But…" one of the knights says, "Lady Rhea said-"

"Rhea has lost her sanity. You either stand with me, you run back to her like a crying toddler, or you resist and I draw a red smile on your neck. Your choice."

One of the knights reaches for their blade, but Shamir is faster. She draws an axe and buries it in the knight's throat. I'll need to keep her in mind for later. Effective, ruthless, and switches sides a little too easily.

Most of the Knights break and run away from Shamir, likely regrouping in a place that's more advantageous. Shamir's personal battalion of archers stays at her side. The students start to fan out. One of them raises a hand and a flame appears. As they're about to throw it at Shamir, she nocks an arrow and points it at them. The fire in their hand vanishes, and Shamir lowers her bow an inch at a time.

"Close one there, kid," Shamir says. "Looks like I'm out. Make things interesting for me, Claude."

She backs away, still facing us and the students until she disappears around a corner. The students approach me and Annette, most of them looking terrified and following the group while a few at the front stare at her with determination in their eyes.

"Thank you for saving us, Professor Dominic," one of the students says. "Are you fighting the church to save Fhirdiad? We want to help you."

"You are absolutely not getting involved," Annette says. "You need to stay out of danger."

"Everywhere here is in danger. The only way Fhirdiad can know peace is if we drive Rhea out."

Rhea… it's her fault that we were all forced into the roles of child soldiers to begin with. She insisted that we stand by Garreg Mach even when we didn't have the resources to defend it, which cost Marianne's life. Then the Knights of Seiros spent the five long years leading up to Byleth's reawakening searching for her instead of defending the realm. They didn't care when Dimitri was trumped up on false charges and executed. They didn't care when Cornelia ushered in an age of poverty and totalitarianism. They didn't care when the Empire invaded my lands and killed the people I hold dear.

So far as I'm concerned, they can all burn in the eternal flames.

"I think you should take them up on it," I say. "Stay in the front and let them provide cover fire. But ultimately it's up to you. You're the authority here, so I'm going to head back and check up on Ashe."

"Keep him alive for me, okay?" Annette says.

"I'll do my best."

I whistle again and Omar flies down into the field. As I mount him and fly away, I see Annette leading the students away from the burning buildings. Sound idea to get away from the fire first and then make a plan from there.

"Sorry I'm so needy today, buddy," I say, patting Omar on the shoulder. "But as you can probably tell, it's a big day today."

He doesn't respond, but I'm sure he gets it. I don't deserve his loyalty after abandoning him at Gronder Field a month and a half ago, but if it helps me bring this war to an end then I won't question it.

I have Omar swoop down when I see Ashe. He and a group of knights with house Gaspard crests on their armor are surrounded by House Rowe soldiers, led by Gwendal. Ashe is looking around at the wall of knights in front of him with his bow in hand. I fly overhead and point an arrow at Gwendal.

"Someone care to explain to me why it looks like you're about to kill each other?" I say.

"He's still working with the Knights of Seiros," Ashe says.

"You see what they do to your city and you still bow to them?" I tell Gwendal. "There's a better way to do this, you know."

"Ah, to be young with that fire in my heart," Gwendal says. "Being a knight is about obeying orders, even if we don't like them."

"That's not why I became a knight," Ashe says. "King Loog trained his knights to protect the people, and look at what we're doing."

"If you're strong enough to resist me, then try," Gwendal says. "Do you think you have it in you, Ashe?"

"That's not fair. We're outnumbered and-"

The Rowe knights advance closer to Ashe and his Gaspard soldiers. One of them lunges for the first lance strike and the skirmish breaks off in full. I have Omar swerve through the skies and fire off shots with Failnaught. I need all the strength I can get behind each arrow to punch through Gwendal's armor. Where's Annette where you need her?

Gwendal charges through the lines of Gaspard soldiers on his horse, sending an entire line of soldiers stumbling and falling with a swing of his axe. It doesn't take a genius to see that Ashe's forces are losing badly. He fires off shots and hits each one, but even with both of us it's not nearly enough arrows to stop the advance.

"I think this is it, Claude," Ashe says. "We're going to need a miracle."

"No. I'm not adding you to the list of names. We'll find some way."

Ashe takes a deep breath and steps forward towards Gwendal.

"I'm the one you want," Ashe says. "Kill me and spare the others."

"Not going to surrender?" Gwendal says.

"After this battle, I don't know if the world will need knights. I'll go down protecting the people of Fhirdiad from you and Rhea."

Gwendal chuckles and raises his axe. Ashe closes his eyes. I let out a scream.

"Dark Spikes T," comes a voice from behind me.

A circle of dark bolts appear around Gwendal. They glow with an eerie light. He looks around in confusion and the bolts slam into him from all directions, creating an explosion that reminds me of a cartoon grenade. Ashe blinks his eyes open and is sent flying back. The next moment, Gwendal is on the ground, coughing.

"Thank you… whoever you are… for giving me this rest."

Gwendal closes his eyes.

I look around and my eyes lock on a single mage dressed in official robes. But it's not Annette. A group of soldiers charge at her, and another explosion of darkness erupts with the snap of her fingers. Knocked out or dead, none of them are moving.

"Hey, Claude," Lysithea says. "Thanks for telling me to surrender and help take down Cornelia. Look at the mess we found ourselves in."

Petra flies in on a wyvern, cleaving through the Rowe soldiers with an axe. Blasts of lightning arc across the field from another direction, and I glance over to see Dorothea approaching with a steely look on her face. She has a levin sword attached at one side of her hip and a wilted rose at the other.

And then it happens. Byleth arrives on the scene, slicing through entire ranks of soldiers within seconds like an anime villain. They wield a curved sword that looks like it came from China, which I think is called a Wo Dao in this world. It always seems to find the weak spots and slice through armor like nothing was there.

Soon after Byleth starts tearing up the skirmish, the House Rowe soldiers retreat. Byleth walks up to Ashe, who scrambles away from them in fear.

"I'm not going to hurt you," they say, "At least, unless you try to hurt me."

"He's on your side now," I tell Byleth. "We both are, after seeing what Rhea did. Let's kill her together."

Byleth places a hand on Ashe, and a green light appears between their fingers. The next moment, the cuts on Ashe's face vanish. When did Byleth pick up healing magic?

"I'm afraid killing Rhea outright may not be an option," Byleth says.

I frown, and I also see Lysithea and Dorothea blinking at them in surprise.

"Claude," Byleth says. "I know what's coming. A nuclear weapon from the sky."

"An… atom bomb?"

No fucking way. There's absolutely no way that a world stuck in medieval technology has _nukes. _

"A what?" Ashe says. "What is this and why is it so distressing?"

"I misspoke," Byleth says. "There's multiple of them, actually. Rhea can potentially destroy them in the air as a dragon, but we need to get through to her thick skull that everything on Fhirdiad is about to be wiped out. I think they're being sent by Those who Slither in the Dark, and we need to convince her of that."

Dorothea and Petra exchange a glance. I can tell that they don't quite buy the scope of the destruction a single weapon can cause, but if something worries Byleth they know it's serious.

"Right," I say. "How many tries do we have?"

Byleth grips the Sword of the Creator tighter. Their cheeks are red from the cold but their knuckles are white. Speaking of which, aren't they cold with that belly button window, impractical sleeves, and dumb leggings?

"We only have one," Byleth says. "No more miracles this time."

"Okay," Ashe says, "Does anyeone else know what they're talking about."

Head shakes from Lysithea, Petra, and Dorothea. I don't know how we'll explain this to them if we live through this, but right now that's not the important part. Byleth is out of Divine Pulse uses, which means…

I look down at Failnaught in my hands. I imagine myself drawing an arrow, aiming, loosing. So easy. The revenge I've chased after for five years could be mine. One shot, one kill, and the person who sent my life into chaos will never bother anyone else again.

It takes all my willpower to sling Failnaught over my back. This battle is bigger than me. The flames rage on around us, and I have Omar land on the ground so that we stop breathing in so much of the smoke. Petra follows my lead, which I'm sure doesn't mean anything but still surprises me. I remember the day five years ago when I told all the Black Eagles students that their best chance was with Byleth and the Empire. So far it's worked out for them. I wonder if they would have stayed if I had told them to. Why they seemed to lend any credence at all to my words, I have no idea.

"Petra and I should check out what's going on with Rhea," I say.

Byleth hesitates. "I can't cover for you if something happens."

"We don't have much time to stop the nukes, right? Ashe, Dorothea, Lysithea, follow us and provide cover fire if you can. Byleth, I think you know the best way to gather the others."

"Do what he says," Byleth commands, and then runs off.

Great. So now I'm in charge of the lives of my other classmates. And if they die, Byleth can't use Divine Pulse to bring them back to life. I wonder how many times Byleth watched nuclear Armageddon fall onto Fhirdiad to rewind and watch it happen again with different strategies. How many times did they have this exact conversation with me?

This brings up another point. I can feel when Byleth uses Divine Pulse, but I guess not when they're too far away from me. That explanation makes the most sense, since I've never felt it randomly and I know they've used that ability when I'm not around. That must mean they weren't close when rewinding time, or else I would remember it.

I direct Omar up to the skies, and Petra flies next to me. We rise above the smoke and look down at Fhirdiad below. Still ablaze, burning like a pot of oil. Rhea… how could someone care so little about the people around them?

"I must do the apologizing," Petra says. "When we were fighting before, I was assuming that you were… an enemy."

"Well, I was."

"Yes, but…" She shakes her head. "You were never the one we should have been doing the fighting against."

A smile comes to my face. "I appreciate it, Petra. Let's teach Rhea a lesson and see if we can save what's left of this city."

I dive towards the pearl-white dragon I see in the northmost part of town. The Immaculate One. Rhea. I remind myself that our job is to convince her to fight Those Who Slither in the Dark and their nukes instead of trying to burn her own people in one last inferno. It's always the powerful who get to negotiate while the regular people who are left pleading to the goddess as they go up in flames.

I do my best to stay along a path that Ashe, Dorothea, and Lysithea can follow. I expect them to encounter ground-based resistance soon. It's fine if they have to deal with that, since I wasn't expecting them to make it all the way to Rhea and we haven't encountered any air force as of-

"Watch out!"

Petra's voice cuts through the air. I swerve Omar to the side in time as a lance passes by my leg as a Pegasus dives beneath me. The Pegasus rider rises in a gradual arc until she faces me and Petra. Ingrid.

"I thought you died at Gronder," Ingrid says, "But it looks like you suffered a worse fate by becoming another one of Edelgard's dogs. Allow me to fix that for you."

She flies towards me, and Petra meets her charge. Petra's axe draws blood as it passes by Ingrid's side, but Ingrid doesn't react.

"Wait," I say. "Ingrid, Rhea's the one who ordered this city burned."

"Is this supposed to be a revelation to me?" she says. "My duty is to follow my lord."

"Even if you're burning down the city you call home?"

Ingrid glances down at Fhirdiad below, and then she glares at me. "You won't fool me with these games any longer, Claude. I see this is what Dimitri meant when he called you a schemer."

Two on one. How does she think she can win this? Ingrid charges again, and I nock an arrow and wait. Ingrid swerves around Petra's axe again, and I take that opportunity to fire off an shot from Failnaught that takes her straight in the chest. She clutches the arrow, gasps, and directs her Pegasus to dive. The winged horse heads back towards Rhea. I loose another shot. My aim is a bit off, but I hit the Pegasus and it starts to plummet. Poor creature. I look over at Petra and nod. We don't have time to be worrying about her, whether that be trying to save her life or finish the job.

I fly into the northern square where Rhea stands, flanked by a pair of large, golem-like automatons wielding large lances made out of light. South of Rhea stands Dimitri with his lance Areadbhar, plus Sylvain with the Lance of Ruin and Felix with the Aegis Shield. Three crested nobles, three relics. Plus a dragon and two constructs designed to kill. I don't like our odds here.

Felix sees us and starts firing off arrows from a bow he whips out. I manage to swerve around them, but his aim is good and if one of the hits Omar we're going to be in trouble. I have Omar descend and I dismount right before he touches the ground. I land in the snow, which softens my landing somewhat, but I still have to fight through the pain. Petra follows me and lands in a Zelda-style roll that looks far more graceful than what I put up.

"So you managed to evade death," Dimitri says, approaching us. "But it always catches up to you eventually."

I glance over at Rhea in the background. She doesn't make any move to approach us, which is good because if she did I don't think we'd stand a sliver of a chance. At least Omar and Petra's wyverns are out of the way, so if we die they won't go down with us. Felix follows behind Dimitri with a bow still in hand and Sylvain trots up on his horse.

"Tell me," I say, "Was it your idea to burn down Fhirdiad?"

"This city was already like this when I arrived," Dimitri says. "Though what we're doing to this city is no worse than what the city did to me. You can pretend that you're better than this if you want, Claude. It will only mean that you're the first to die."

"Do I have a choice?"

"Hand over that girl." Dimitri gestures to Petra, "And I'll consider it."

"Absolutely not. How long are you going to follow Rhea? She doesn't care about you."

"Of course she doesn't. Nobody cares about me, and I don't care about anyone." He bares his teeth at me in what I'm not sure is a threat or a smile. "Unless you count me wanting to destroy the person responsible for all of this. I do care about Edelgard quite a lot in that way."

"This is how you're going to live the rest of your life?" I say.

"Who's going to stop me, Claude?"

I glance over at Sylvain, and then Felix. I get that Dimitri's their childhood friend, but following him when he committed war crimes while carving a path of destruction towards Gronder Field and will lead them into death is plain stupid. Why don't they see that?

"When is this over?" I say. "What's your end game here?"

"I kill until I can hang Edelgard's head from the gates of Enbarr," Dimitri says, "And then I die. Nothing else matters."

And is everyone else in your group on board with this plan?

Dimitri laughs. "I can tell what you're thinking, Claude. They don't have the guts to resist me."

Felix raises an eyebrow. Then he draws a blade and rams it into Dimitri's side. The motion is so sudden that I freeze, as well as Sylvain and Petra. For a second, the world is quiet. Dimitri exhales and turns to face Felix.

"I've had enough of this, boar prince," Felix says. "You promised we could make the Empire pay, but all you've done is prey on your own people. I'm sick of your lies."

Dimitri lets out a roar and slams Areadbhar into Felix. The lance glows as it travels, and I recognize the motion from my studies as the combat art Atrocity. Felix raises his Aegis Shield and a silver aura appears around him, slowing the lance. Dimitri's attack still connects with Felix's head and sends him staggering back while bleeding, but it doesn't kill him outright like it looked like it was going to beforehand.

"A little help?" Felix says.

Sylvain, Petra, and I burst into action at the same time. I draw Thunderbrand and slice at Dimitri. I aim for the legs to incapacitate rather than kill, and I'm surprised at how quickly my slashes come out. Dimitri shifts his focus to me and lashes out with his spear. I manage to leap back in time to see Sylvain and Petra fighting. Sylvain has the advantage because of his mount, but right now I only need her to hold on.

Dimitri fights like a man possessed, but he can't fend off me and Felix at the same time. Plus, Felix is one of the best swordsmen I've ever seen and I have an unfair advantage in the rapid attacks Thunderbrand can give me. While Catherine was certainly skilled, I see how much of her power came from this weapon. Dimitri grunts and dives back into a corner where it's harder for us to both approach.

I take the opportunity to focus my attention onto Sylvain. He smirks when I look up at him, and combined with his ruffled hair he looks just as much like a classic fuckboi as I remember.

"Shame it had to come to this, huh?" Sylvain says. "Hope you don't hate me for killing you."

I'm not going to give him the chance. I lunge at him with Thunderbrand and deliver a flurry of four attacks while he only gets in one as a reply, which misses as I dart away. Lucky? Maybe, but I'll take it. After only a few seconds in combat, he's scuffed up and bleeding from multiple locations on his body.

"Dimitri," Sylvain says. "We have to get out of here."

"Edelgard is in the city," I say. "Why don't you leave us and fight her instead?"

"That sounds like an excellent idea," Sylvain says. "Come on, Dimitri. Let's get us out of here."

Dimitri slides out of the corner with Felix still pointing his blade at Dimitri's face. Sylvain trots his horse over to Dimitri and hoists him up onto the back of the mouth. Sylvain gives us a cheesy smile before riding off into one of the smaller streets.

"I assume you have a good reason for letting them go," Felix says. "Because if not…"

"Byleth is convinced that this city is about to explode in a few minutes," I say, "And only Rhea can stop it. Let's see if we can talk some sense into her. Do you need medical attention?"

"What?" Felix looks incredulous. "I'm fine."

The blood running down his faces makes it look as if his head is about to crack open like an egg, but I don't push it.

As the three of us approach Rhea, one of the constructs glides towards us. With stiff motions, it rotates around like a baseball-pitching machine and throws a lance of light at Felix. He manages to leap out of the way, but it looks close for comfort.

"The professor did the explaining of how to defeat these machines," Petra says. "We must do the breaking of armor on all sides."

Right, same principle as fighting Demonic Beasts. There are two basic strategies. We can either break down the armor on one part and attack the weak spot, or whittle the entire armor down slowly so it can't repair the most hurt area and eventually break all the armor so it stuns the automaton. We take the latter approach, and we each work to distract it by breaking armor when it's focused on someone else to limit the amount of time that it spends attacking us. A Black Eagle, Blue Lion, and Golden Deer all working together, and it blends together naturally. We each get some scratches from the light lances, but we're able to keep the construct at bay. Wielding Thunderbrand feels like playing an action video game with how smoothly I can transition one strike to the next. I can see why fighting is so fun for Catherine if she gets to swing this thing around all day.

When the armor breaks and the automaton is stunned, I stand in place and let loose with as many attacks as I can manage. Felix tosses his Aegis shield on the ground for the extra maneuverability and slices at the machine with a silver sword. Petra switches to a killer axe and aims for critical hits, which she scores reliably when the construct is weakened and has more of its mechanical insides exposed. Right as the automaton is about to recover from being stunned, she lands the killing blow and it falls to the ground.

"How are we all doing?" I say.

"Don't waste your breath," Felix replies, picking up the Aegis shield. "Come on."

He walks in Rhea's direction with blade in hand, and I follow him. As we approach, we see Byleth fighting the other automaton on their own. They're wielding bladed gauntlets that I recognize as killer knuckles—like Petra's killer axe, they're also designed for exploiting weak spots to land critical hits. By the time that we make it to them, they've already scrapped the construct on their own. They take a deep breath and enter what looks like a meditative state, and I see their wounds close.

"Cool trick with the healing," I say.

"Learn brawling and they teach you the healing focus combat art," Byleth says. "Useful for situations like this. I have backup coming, so let's see if we can stall this out. But not too long, or otherwise…"

Felix examines his own blade. "I am not certain we are on the same side here."

"Stick with us until Rhea's gone, okay?" I say. "We'll resolve everything after that."

At this point, we've finally caught Rhea's attention. I don't know if she didn't see us before or didn't care, but now she's lumbering towards us. Each step she takes sends vibrations through the ground and up my spine like a metal concert.

"Felix, why don't we take the lead?" I say.

"I don't take orders from you."

Fine, I'll talk to her on my own. I approach Rhea, but keep what I think is enough distance so that she can't immediately attack me. It's basically impossible to read her expression when she's in dragon form like this, so I have no idea how likely my words are to have any impact.

"Rhea," I say, raising my arms to show the lack of weapons. "There's something we need to discuss."

"Traitor. You are an apostate to the church. And you have the one who consumed my mother with you."

As before, her voice is simultaneously medium-high pitched and deep enough to cause a rumble in the ground. Consumed her mother? Rhea isn't making any sense. Unless they mean Byleth assimilating Sothis' power into them, but the goddess left the world over a millennium ago so Rhea can't be her child.

"If we do nothing, our enemies will win," I say. "The allies of Solon and Kronya. Those Who Slither in the Dark. They are planning to unleash a terrible weapon on this city."

"You lie. Give me back my mother!"

Byleth pulls me away as Rhea unleashes a frost breath attack that fills the area I stood in moments before with sparkling white particles that burst seconds later.

"Looks like we need to knock some sense into her," Byleth says. "We made a bit more progress the one time we got her stunned by breaking through all of her armor."

"Armor? Like those constructs and the Demonic Beasts?"

Byleth nods. "I'm able to see the state of the armor better than most other people. Think of it as a third eye of sorts."

Not the weirdest power they have.

"Everyone, follow my lead and make sure to get attacks in from all sides," Byleth says.

They walk up and heals each of us with white magic. Rhea advances, letting out a roar.

"Why should I listen to you?" Felix says.

"You want to die instead?" Byleth says. "There's no time to talk."

Byleth and Petra run forward. I motion for Felix to follow and dart after them. We attack Rhea in the same way that we surrounded and strafed around the automaton, only this time Byleth gives us all specific orders. Now that I have extra brain space I don't need to use for coordinating other people, I'm able to focus more on my form and dodging Rhea's claw strikes and breath weapons.

Without realizing it, I find my thoughts drifting. I have to admit that there's a good chance I'm not making it out of this one alive. No Divine Pulses, nukes descending from the sky… if Byleth doesn't get us out of here in time, we're all going to die. That is, unless I decide to peace out and activate my Falchion charm when I see the nukes start to fall, in which case all of us will die except for me. It feels bad abandoning my friends, but me dying with them doesn't help anyone. Normally I wouldn't care much about preserving my own life, but now I have a family to go back to. I will see Lucina's smile again. I swear it. Which is terrifying, because any of Rhea's stray attacks could sink my chance of seeing her, Morgan, or Robin ever again. Nobody told me that having the will to live was so stressful.

"Now!" Byleth shouts.

I snap out of my line of thinking. What is that supposed to mean? What do I do? That's when I hear what sounds like a small army behind us. I leap back and risk a glance behind me to see Annette leading the School of Sorcery students from earlier. Annette runs up to Rhea and raises a hand to the sky. The students follow her lead. A rain of fire descends from the skies, landing all over Rhea. Thanks to Byleth's guidance, Rhea's defenses are weakened all over, and Annette's gambit breaks through the last of her amor. She staggers back, stunned.

"This was the backup you had in mind?" I say. "A bunch of kids?"

"The Fódlan classic," Byleth says. "We need to escort them back to safety for when she regains herself. Hopefully she'll be in a clearer state of mind. It will help if I'm not around to aggravate her, so I'll take the rear as Annette leads them out. Ready to go, Professor Dominic?"

I tune Annette and Byleth out. What do I say to Rhea when she comes to her senses and I have to persuade her to not kill us and instead focus on a threat she may not believe exists? And after we attacked her, too. I rack my brain, but I can't come up with anything.

Then a terrible little idea enters my head. I glance around, seeing that Byleth and Annette have already disappeared from sight with the students.

"You might want to stay back," I tell Felix and Petra.

I circle around to Rhea's back and run up her tail until I'm on her back. She's much larger than Omar to the point that I can stand comfortably on her back, which is itself about the size of the dorm room I had back at school on Earth. I walk forward until I reach the back of her neck. This can't be too different from riding a wyvern, right?

"You're crazier than the Boar Prince," Felix says. "If this is the best you've got, I should have killed you instead of attacking Dimitri."

"Don't knock it 'til you try it," I say. "I could be the next military genius with this strategy."

At that point, Rhea rumbles back to consciousness. I hold Thunderbrand up to her neck. Too scaly for me to get an instant kill, of course, but the message is there. I can only hope it doesn't make me look even more ridiculous.

"What are you doing?" Rhea says. "Do you think you can threaten me?"

"I'm trying to show that I'm worth listening to. Those who Slither in the Dark are about to unleash a weapon on this city unlike any other."

"A weapon?" Rhea says.

Okay, well Byleth was right about Rhea being less crazed once we give her a chance to mental reset by stunning her. And turns out that by reaching into the deepest depths of my idiocy, I was able to leave her so flabbergasted that she hasn't even tried to kill me yet. I see this as an absolute win.

"It's… like a metal bucket, but closed on the top, and longer and skinner," I say. "And when it hits the ground, it will grind the city to dust."

"The same weapon… Ailell… Mother…"

Ailell? The Valley of Torment is an area on the border between the Kingdom and the Alliance, and legends say it was desolated long ago. Whatever nuclear weapon Those Who Slither in the Dark have up their sleeve could have been responsible for that.

"Yes," I say. "And the only way to stop that now is to fly up to the skies and destroy those missiles before they reach Fhirdiad. Do you think you can do that?"

"Claude," Petra says, pointing up at the sky. "I am seeing something do the falling. Is the weapon you are speaking of?"

"Now, Rhea," I say. "Please."

"They took my mother away from me," Rhea says. "Nemesis… The Red Canyon… I'll kill him again if I must."

Nemesis? Didn't he live almost a thousand years ago? Though in games like Dungeons and Dragons, dragons can live to be thousands of years old but can appear any age they want when they take human form. So if the dragon rules are the same here, Rhea could have lived back then, and she implied that she was the one who killed Nemesis. Assuming that she didn't have delusions about the event, that meant she was…

"Seiros," I say. "You're Saint Seiros."

"I have not been called that in a long time. Zanado… My home… Mother…"

"I don't know what happened to Zanado," I say, "But Fhirdiad will be ground to ash if you don't act here. And it sounds like you know what that feels like."

"I…"

Rhea's wings flap. I manage to hop off her just in time as she takes off towards the skies. At this point, the grey nuclear warheads are drawing closer. I did it, I guess. Somehow.

"Quick," I say. "We need to find shelter. Get inside."

"Why?" Felix says.

"Don't ask stupid questions. We have to move."

I run towards the closest set of burning buildings to the south. I hear an explosion from above and look up while I'm running to see one of the warheads detonate safely above the city. A draconic figure flies away, barely outpacing the explosion.

Today is the craziest fucking day. I started thinking I was going to defend civilians from Byleth, then got Byleth's help in defending civilians from Rhea, and now I'm getting Rhea's help in defending civilians from Those Who Slither in the Dark.

We arrive at an open door of a building that's burning on the inside. Shit. Do we trust Rhea to take out all the nuclear bombs and not risk the flaming building, or do we take whatever shelter we can at this point?

"I'm not going in there," Felix says.

More explosions from above. I grit my teeth.

"Try to get out of here," I say. "Find shelter that looks safe enough, or see if you can make it out of the city. I'm sorry I don't have anything else."

Felix smirks. "I've always liked going solo."

He runs off without saying another word. I mouth a prayer for his safety, but I'm not sure who it's directed at.

"What are you going to be doing, Claude?" Petra says.

"I have my own special abilities, just like Byleth," I say. "I'll be fine. Please, take care of yourself."

I grab my Falchion pendant as I finish the sentence. Petra nods and runs off towards her wyvern. Because the pendant takes a minute to transport me, I walk back to the center of the plaza where Rhea stood. I stare up at her as she destroys atom bomb after atom bomb. With each one, she seems weaker. Before long, she detonates one that sends her falling out of the sky. I glance around to see if there are others, and find one remaining nuclear warhead plummeting towards the ground. All I can do is watch as Rhea and the bomb both descend. It feels so… distant. Cold. I know that this means hundreds, maybe thousands of people are about to be erased from the world in an instant, and yet I couldn't panic even if I wanted to. Why am I so calm?

Rhea regains control of herself and starts flapping her wings, breaking into a soar before she hits the ground. She flies up and blasts the final atom bomb with a beam attack from her mouth. It detonates right above the city, expanding and blotting out light. It's not a stereotypical mushroom cloud nuke I see on black and white TV, so there must be a bit of magical spice in there as well. The light blinds me, and then the world around me turns to white. At first I think I'm dying, but then it dawns on me that because I'm not feeling any pain, it's more likely that my Falchion pendant went off.

Back to Earth… I close my eyes.

#

When I regain my senses, I'm lying facedown in the dirt. That doesn't happen, right? It shouldn't. I rise to a sitting position and look around at the trees. Based on the time differences… ah, I don't have the brainpower for this shit right now. It feels like I woke up from a nap, so I bet I was sleeping and didn't remember passing out the moment I arrived on Earth in the middle of the woods back in upstate New York.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and check the news. It doesn't take me long to find the Earth equivalent for the battle that took place today. Earth Edelgard, Earth Rhea, Earth Dimitri, and Earth Those Who Slither in the Dark were all involved. The fact that there's reporting means I must have sleped for at least an hour or two. I see an article title talking about two deaths that came about because of the struggle, and I read further. I scan the article for names, but it only takes me until the second paragraph.

Felix Hugo Fraldarius. Petra Macneary.

After they both walked into the raging firestorm to stand against Rhea, neither of them escaped the explosion in time. I press my phone to my chest, hoping for it to be warm, but it's as cold as my fingers. I want to cry for them, but I'm too tired. It feels like I'll never be able to move from this spot for the rest of my life.

All I know is that I have two more names to add to the list that I recite to myself each night before going to sleep.

**End of Part 2**

* * *

**Fun fact: I wrote this entire chapter today, and it's the most I've ever written in a single day in my six years of writing fanfic (whoa why has it been so long?). Claude being exhausted at the end is partially just me being exhausted lol. **

**Also, sorry to all five Cyril fans out there because he's not going to be in this fic lol. I never mentioned him before so I felt like doing it now would be weird. Plus if I did I probably would have killed him off so maybe he's better off going unmentioned. **

**Okay, important note here that we still have a good deal of fic left. Three houses is split into two parts, but I plotted this story to be split into three. We're going to have some more interludes and then a final arc, where we drift a bit closer to canon actually.**

Notes:

-Thunderbrand is described as having rapid attacks because it has the "brave" property, doubling the amount of attacks it makes when the wielder initiates the attack

-Encloser is a combat art that stops the target from moving the following turn if it hits. Cool art that I never used because my Claude kept oneshotting everything

-Excalibur is Annette's strongest spell

-In Catherine's B support with Ingrid, she says that she'll do anything for Rhea except die for her. It's a nice contract with Ingrid who glorifies dying in the line of duty.

-There's a battalion in game called "School of Sorcery Soldiers" that have a gambit that rains fire down from above (I think). I had Annette effectively use this battalion by leading the students into battle.

-The "breaking the armor" thing is based off the Three Houses mechanic where you break through the yellow squares on large creatures with attacks and gambits to stun them and get materials.


	31. Interlude: Edelgard

**Six hours after the events in part 2:**

Edelgard von Hresvelg walked through the silent streets of Fhirdiad. Embers from the fire, snow from the recent storm, and rubble from the explosion were scattered around the empty path she walked, mixed together like one of those horrible alcoholic drinks she swore to never lean on. One foot in front of the other. Right, left. Right, left. She told herself not to think about what had happened here. About what she had done.

And then it came back to her. The screams. Mother. Father. The faces of her siblings, haggard and withering from the treatment Thales and his kind forced on them. Blood, pooling up below her. Was that blood real from the battle, or was she imagining it here? Edelgard closed her eyes, but then she was back in the dungeons of Enbarr. Footsteps… she was on the floor, and when she rose to her knees she heard the sounds of squeaking.

To others, she knew it was an innocuous sound. But she had experienced this waking nightmare before. She knew what was going to happen.

When the jailer stepped up to her, their body collapsed and their clothes deflated. Out of them swarmed hundreds of rats, rushing through the cell bars. An army of red rodent eyes stared at her, and she let out a scream. The rats climbed onto her body, crawling under her clothes. Teeth gnashed and her body lit up with pain.

_This isn't real, _she thought. _This isn't real…_

It didn't help. She knew this wasn't real. It didn't stop the visions her mind conjured up from being so vivid. It didn't stop the pain.

And who cared if this wasn't real? Her siblings all suffered fates as bad as this. Because of their crests… all because of the crests…

"Edelgard."

Huh. That voice didn't sound like anything her imagination usually showed her in these moments of panic.

"What do you need, Edelgard?"

She blinked, and then she was back in Fhirdiad. Her hands and knees were on the ground, and her arms were shaking. She reached out a quivering hand towards the axe that dropped next to hurt her.

"It's okay," the voice said. "I'll protect you."

"My… teacher?"

Edelgard rose to her knees and looked up at the person. Squinting in the sunlight, she wanted to say that the figure above her matched Byleth's. But she promised to stop lying to herself years ago.

"Lysithea," Edelgard said. "What happened? I saw the explosion, and-"

"We regrouped outside the city," Lysithea said. "All of us except Petra and the professor. You went back into the city on your own to search for them. You commanded us not to follow you. Do you remember, Edelgard?"

Lysithea's voice was softer than Edelgard remembered. Was this truly the same person who blasted an entire legion of her soldiers back in Derdriu before being surrounded and surrendering? And all this time, Lysithea was so serious and called anyone who cracked a joke childish.

"I… yes, I do remember." It started coming back to her. "I'm sorry, Lysithea."

"You don't need to apologize to me."

Lysithea offered a hand. Edelgard accepted it, and Lysithea pulled her up to a standing position. The girl was stronger than she looked.

"After all," Lysithea said. "We're basically sisters, right?"

Sisters. Not because of blood, not because of a common household, but because Edelgard and Lysithea were the only people in the world to bear two crests. Their white hair was the scar they bore, and the clock ticking in their hearts was counting down until the day a few years from now when their bodies were going to collapse from bearing so much "holy" energy. That was how it went with the Church of Seiros. Get too close to divinity and it left you with burns.

Except for one person, who was able to harness the highest powers for good without letting it consume them. After what happened to her, Edelgard swore to never believe in miracles again. But with Byleth, there was a chance.

"Sisters," Edelgard repeated out loud. "I like the sound of that. Thank you, Lysithea."

"Are you all right?" Lysithea said. "We could head back and recruit the others."

"We should keep going." Edelgard glanced around. "Do you know where we are?"

"The professor and others were fighting Rhea to the north. Dorothea and I got caught by a wall of knights and couldn't blast our way through in time."

North. Edelgard could do that. She continued walking, her legs still shaky.

"Are you angry at me for disobeying your orders?" Lysithea said.

"All I care about right now is finding Byleth and Petra," Edelgard said. "And honestly, I'm glad it's you rather than Hubert shadowing me. I appreciate his drive and hard work, but there are parts of me he doesn't know like you do."

Lysithea powerwalked until she was next to Edelgard, smirking.

"That's what the rest of us decided," Lysithea said. "At least, that I would be better at supporting you, both physically with white magic and emotionally."

Edelgard offered a nod. It was all she had the energy for. After a minute of speechless footsteps through the city of ash and rubble, Lysithea turned to her.

"Is that what you were remembering?" she said. "The past, I mean."

It was a broad question, but Edelgard knew exactly what Lysithea was talking about.

"Yes," Edelgard said. "Does it ever happen to you? Where one moment you're going about your normal business, and then you see something that reminds you of that time and then you're just a little girl at the mercy of those mages again?"

"Not as much anymore." Lysithea looks at the ground. "But in my dreams, the past can catch up to me. I know I can only keep running for so long before it claims me. That's why…"

"That's why you had to be a prodigy," Edelgard said. "Why you needed to leave your mark on the world."

"Nobody else understood," Lysithea says, "Why I couldn't be a child any longer. And it's not their fault. I would never want them to go through what we did. But it was so lonely."

Alone… Edelgard clenched her jaw. She was _not _going back there again.

"I thought I was done with my past," Edelgard said. "I thought I seized my destiny. We won, Lysithea." She gestured to the rubble around them. "Why does winning look like this?"

"Do you regret your path?"

"No. This destruction tears my heart in two, but deaths from Fódlan staying the way it is are just as terrible as deaths from Fódlan changing. People like Claude tell me I have no compassion, but it feels like I'm the only one who cares about the people who are already suffering from the church."

"The church is full of lies," Lysithea said. "They told us that you forced your father to step down as emperor, and then they sent Marianne to her death. It was only after I left that I understood they were trying to puppeteer us the entire time."

Edelgard gnawed on the inside of her mouth. Did she do the same with Byleth and Petra? After everything they had been through together, Edelgard was prepared to believe that Byleth couldn't be killed by any force in the world. Even through this explosion, she trusted her teacher to be alive. But if that were the case, then why hadn't Byleth returned?

"Leaving can he hard," Edelgard said, "But staying often ends up being worse. You were brave to join us, Lysithea."

Edelgard knew Lysithea's classic response. It was Claude who told her to surrender and assist Edelgard in fighting Those Who Slither in the Dark. It seemed that despite his schemes and games, he did care about his people in the end. Thanks to him, the Alliance was still prospering. This time, though, Lysithea didn't say anything.

"Have you ever fallen in love before?" Edelgard said.

The words were out of her mouth before she could take them back. Maybe they _were _sisters if Edelgard was letting this embarrassing stuff slip out around her.

"Never had time for it," Lysithea says. "Any particular reason for asking?"

"Well, I don't know how much this is love, exactly, but…"

A smirk. "We all know you and Byleth are infatuated with each other. It's okay, Edelgard."

Really? They all… knew? She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks.

"We all support you," Lysithea says. "Even Hubert. He said that you were in higher spirits when the professor was around and that it rubbed off on the army."

Of course Hubert thought that way. But it was a relief that they thought of her as a person and didn't mind that she had emotions. She could probably think Byleth for sharing so much of the burden of authority. If the Black Eagle Strike force only looked up to Edelgard, she would need to be all business and reassuring confidence. But with Byleth around, it was okay for her to have moments of weakness and let people turn to them at times instead.

Though Byleth always told her that love made people strong rather than weak. It sounded like something out of an idealistic child's tale, but…

"When I'm with them," Edelgard says, "The nightmares go away. The bad memories vanish into the morning like mist. What you saw was the worst it's hit me in months."

"Because Byleth isn't here?"

"Because I don't know if they'll ever be here again."

Edelgard thought about a cold bed without Byleth and shivered. The two of them had started sharing a bed out of necessity. Edelgard didn't have nightmares when she was with people she trusted, and travelling back to the past every night left Edelgard restless and exhausted in the mornings. That wasn't a way to accomplish her tasks as a ruler, so she asked Byleth to share her bed to let her get a good night's sleep. It was obvious in retrospect how they got closer and closer until… well, Edelgard could reminisce once she knew that Byleth was safe.

"We'll find them," Lysithea says. "If Claude was right about anything, it was how strong Byleth is. Besides… they seemed to know this was coming."

"The explosion? How?"

Lysithea shook her head. "It made sense to Claude. They used words I don't understand. Have you ever heard of a 'nuclear' weapon before?"

So Byleth had even more knowledge and secrets. Once, the mystery was part of what made Byleth so intriguing. Now, Edelgard wished Byleth would open up and tell her everything. She was dedicated to Byleth, and their secrets couldn't be harder to handle than the ones Edelgard spilled on Byleth.

"Edelgard." Lysithea's voice shook. "Is that…"

Edelgard followed her finger to a wyvern standing in the street. Petra's wyvern. Edelgard ran up to see the reptile nudging a body with her snout. Nonono. This couldn't mean-

She took a deep breath. Edelgard von Hresvelg was not going to let denial and difficult truths rule her. Not after she swore to bring permanent peace to Fódlan and eliminate the knives and blood magic in the dark that the church was refusing to bring to light. She had known her path was going to be stained with blood. So she looked, and she saw exactly what she expected.

Petra's body lying motionless on the ground, her eyes glazed over. Her face was still intact, but the rest of her body looked bad. Edelgard turned away.

"She died because of me," Edelgard said. "I'll retrieve her body after we're done."

"She made her own choices," Lysithea said. "We all did."

This wasn't supposed to happen. Petra was with Byleth. She was supposed to be the safest one. It shouldn't have ended like this, with her dying a thousand miles away from home. Edelgard promised that she was going to set Petra and Brigid both free from the Empire's grasp. Now Petra wasn't going to see the sun rise over her liberated home.

_All the others had to go through this, _Edelgard reminded herself. _Dimitri and Claude lost friends as well. Make her death worth it by building the world we promised._

It was a daunting task, but one that Edelgard was devoted to nonetheless. She expected Lysithea to be in the middle of a breakdown when she turned back, but the young mage looked calm and collected. Edelgard reminded herself how many bodies Lysithea must have seen over the course of this war. Of how many bodies she must have created from living people. Her and Edelgard both.

In the quiet, she could hear sounds of talking ahead. Byleth? Edelgard rushed into a sprint. Her muscles were tense and stiff from the fight, and she nearly tripped over her own legs. She kept running and turned a corner to see a crater in the ground, which must have been left by the explosion. And standing inside were Cornelia and Edelgard's uncle Arundel. But Arundel wasn't his real name.

"Thales." The word came out as a hiss before Edelgard could stop it.

He turned to face her. And in his arms was an unconscious, slumped-over Byleth. Parts of their skin were charred, and they looked like they were on the verge of death. If they weren't dead already.

But no. That couldn't be. Edelgard promised not to look away from hard truths, but Byleth defied the truth. They weren't capable of going down like this. Something deep in Edelgard's bones told her that, and she was right about that feeling the first time when Byleth went missing for five years. Seeing their body now, Edelgard was absolutely certain that Byleth was still alive.

"Well, my dear niece," Thales said. "How have you been?"

"Were you the one who caused those explosions?"

A too-casual shrug. "Now, that doesn't matter much, does it?"

"It was them," Lysithea's voice comes from behind. "Byleth said so themselves. It was like they knew the explosion was going to happen."

And yet Byleth still ran towards the flame. They must have been trying to save whoever they could. That was one of the reasons Edelgard loved them so much. War revealed people's true colors, and Byleth's were a sparkling rainbow. They weren't the type to look away from what was inconvenient, whether that be gore or the truth, yet they didn't let it consume them. They fought to protect every life they could even as they waged war.

They really were the better half of Edelgard.

"Do I know you, child?" Thales said, narrowing his eyes at Lysithea.

She bristled, but didn't explode at the comment. Thank goodness.

"You know may not know me," Lysithea said, "But your kind does. Look at the color you drained from my hair if you want a clue."

"Ah, so you're the Ordelia child who lived. You're welcome for the power we bestowed you, by the way. To think that we were nice enough to not even charge."

Edelgard needed to take control of the conversation before Lysithea did something she was going to regret.

"I see that you have one of mine over there, uncle," she said. "I'm going to request them back."

She didn't think she could fool him into believing that Edelgard only saw Byleth as a talented general, but it was worth a shot.

"This person?" Thales said. "You want this shabby excuse for a vessel?"

Vessel? Edelgard filed that away for later.

"They look dead to me, uncle. I just want to make sure they get a proper burial. I bet they don't even have a pulse."

Byleth never had a pulse. That was one aspect that Edelgard didn't believe until they shared a bed together and their bodies were pressed against each other. Byleth was warm and felt like the home Edelgard never had, but when Edelgard pressed her hands to their chest or her fingers against their neck arteries she didn't feel a heartbeat. Byleth told her that for as long as they could remember, they never had a pulse. They lost blood like normal when wounded, but it didn't flow through their body like it would for a normal person. Jeralt acted like it was normal, and they didn't know what to make of it when they realized that nobody else in the world shared their condition. Edelgard never minded. A heartbeat was something that came and went, but when Byleth wrapped their arms around her, she didn't have to feel their life force recede for even a moment. It only made sense, after all, that Byleth would transcend the rules others lived by.

"You are in no place to make demands of us," Cornelia said. "We should grind their body to sludge and use it as fertilizer for the Agarthans."

Edelgard narrowed her eyes. If Thales and his kind lacked natural fertilizers, it could tell her something about where their hideout was.

"Of course we understand that your teacher has sentimental value to you," Thales said. "But we are looking for something in exchange." He strokes his chin. "How about this? We will return what is yours if you return what is ours. We want Aymr back."

Edelgard looked down at the axe in her hands. She was born with the minor Crest of Seiros, and later had the Crest of Flames implanted in her. Crests allowed people to link with specific relics and unlock their full potential, like Catherine and her blade Thunderbrand. But the Crest of Seiros didn't correspond to any natural relic weapon. In fact, none of the crests from the saints were associated with a relic. To give Edelgard an edge, Thales and the others crafted her a pseudo-relic weapon made from a material called Agarthium that she had never seen used outside of Those Who Slither in the Dark. The weapon enabled her to use the Raging Storm combat art to speed up her body after unleashing an attack, allowing her to either continue the assault or retreat at inhuman speeds. It was integral to many of her military victories.

But Byleth meant more.

"That's acceptable," Edelgard said. "It's difficult to repair this axe without the materials you used, so I believe it will be more useful in your hands."

Thales turned to Cornelia. "Looks like I was right. There's more to this professor than we realized."

Edelgard's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't have possibly figured out-

"If the professor means so much to you," Cornelia says, "There must be a reason. More potent than Aymr… we will study them well indeed."

Cornelia licked her lips, which looked like it was intended to be creepy. Edelgard drew Aymr and stepped forward, but Thales holding a sphere of dark magic over Byleth's unconscious head stopped her in her tracks.

"Ah, so you do think that they are alive," Thales said. "Even though, as you said, they have no heartbeat. Interesting. Well, this is actually your lucky day, my niece. We implanted the Crest of Flames in you for a reason, but now you are no longer needed."

They had a reason for choosing the Crest of Flames specifically?

"You will tell me what you are going to be using my teacher for," Edelgard said.

"We will do no such thing," Thales said. "Thank you for the useful information, Edelgard. Now, let us make ourselves scarce, Cornelia."

The dark orb above Byleth's head vanished, and Thales disappeared with a snap, taking Byleth with him. Edelgard let out a growl and charged at Cornelia, who gave her a patronizing smile before disappearing herself. Edelgard panted, her chest heaving in anger as she looked down at the spot where Byleth used to be. Then came a sensation that she barely recognized. An urge to sink to her knees and sob.

No. Edelgard von Hresvelg, the Adrestian Emperor, was _not _going to cry.

"We'll get them back."

Edelgard whirled around to see Lysithea approaching her. She wore a comforting smile, but Edelgard could see the cracks in it. Lysithea was worried about Byleth too.

"Byleth spared my life," Lysithea said, "And it sounds like they helped you through some tough times. Now it's our turn to be there for them."

"Of course. You're right."

"The others are worried about you," Lysithea said.

The unspoken words rang louder than her speech, and she was right. There was nothing left for Edelgard to do in Fhirdiad. This city was ruined. Because of Rhea. Because of Thales. Because of her. But Rhea and Thales were going to show their true sides eventually and sink to this level. Taking them out now was the best way to prevent them from hurting all the people they were taking aim at.

She wasn't lying to herself about that, right?

Edelgard took a deep breath and turned away from the spot where Byleth was taken from her. She swore that she was going to put Aymr through Thales' skull. She swore that she was going to get Byleth back, and that the two of them could have the ending they deserved. Byleth started out as Rhea's pawn and Edelgard was Thales' experiment, and both of them were going to escape the bounds of authority and carving their own path in life. She swore to prove that children forced to witness unspeakable violence could get a happily ever after ending too.

And once she got Byleth back, she swore that her first words to them were going to be what she should have said to them before now.

"I love you," she whispered.

Saying it out loud, she could almost imagine that it was real, and that Byleth was next to her, waiting to witness the first sunrise over a unified Fódlan in centuries.

* * *

**Wait but Edelgard's the bad guy in this story, right? **

**Hope everyone's doing well! :D In a few days I'll be trying to write my own novel (way scarier than fanfic for some reason... I don't feel prepared!). I might get one more interlude up after before taking that monthlong break. We'll see. If I decide to write the novel all the way through, I might be gone longer than a month. But I'm dedicated to finishing this fic sooner or later. **

Notes:

-Edelgard's trauma around rats comes up in the Crimson Flower route. Actually, it's kinda played off for cuteness which I find weird but clearly the 3H writers didn't ask me.

-Similarly, her bad nightmares about her time as the Slithers' test subject are canon, and Byleth stumbles in on one in their C+ support with Edelgard.


	32. Interlude: Shamir

**One day after the events in part 2:**

Shamir Nevrand could not believe what a sentimental, weepy creature she had become. Not that she actually wept or even showed any emotion at all—that would be ridiculous—but as her best friend lay in need of medical attention she found herself actually being _concerned_ for once in her damn life. She glanced around at the inside of the shack out of city bounds where she was hunkering out. Cold and looking like it was about to collapse at any moment. But given that the entire city of Fhirdiad had already collapsed, this didn't seem so bad.

Besides, the cold had healing properties. She heard whispers of it while she was a mercenary in Dagda. The commanders always stayed by a fire at night, but the common soldiers were the ones to heal better because the cold air helped patch their wounds. Mercenaries were often idiots—which was fortunate, since that meant Shamir could surpass the competition by putting in almost no effort at all—but after she started looking she couldn't help but see the rapid healing that came from soldiers left to lick their own wounds in the cold.

It was tough love, but Catherine was a big girl.

"Can't believe that… twerp got the better of me," Catherine said.

"Twerp." Shamir smirked. "He's almost as interesting as that professor. Both of them went missing during a battle where they should have died. And here they are, both missing again. Be prepared when Claude von Riegan wants to finish the job, Catherine."

Catherine scowled. "I could beat him in a duel any day. I'll let him pick the weapons. Except bows, because that's cheating."

"Cheating, hm?" Shamir twirled an arrow in her hand. "This is getting pathetic, Catherine."

Catherine sat up, straining her bandages. What a dumbass.

"Pathetic? Me? I'll go out there and show you-"

"That's exactly what is sad. You lost, Catherine. Admit it, stop your showboating, and be prepared for next time."

"If there is a next time." Catherine looked at the ground.

People gave Shamir odd looks for refusing to grovel at Rhea's feet, and Catherine herself gasped the first time Shamir said that she was going to leave the Knights of Seiros as soon as her debt to Rhea was repaid. But here Catherine was, her sole purpose in life crushed to pieces before her eyes while Shamir had a full life of travelling and killing ahead of her. So who was the real fool?

"Knights will still be needed," Shamir said. "I'm sure you'll be able to find work."

"I will _not _serve Edelgard." The fire in her eyes remined Shamir of a child who was refusing to do their chores.

"Then you will die. I'll attend your funeral."

A sigh. Catherine slumped back against the shack wall.

"You can't give me this just once, Shamir? You know, like lie to me and say that everything's going to work out?"

"It might, if you let go of Rhea and don't act like an idiot. Now that the Kingdom's gone, you're not a wanted criminal here anymore."

"That is true." Catherine's face darkened again. "But to become an Imperial dog…"

"Why not? I bet it pays well."

"You of all people should hate the Empire, Shamir. Didn't they ravage your homeland?"

"Their exploits in Dagda were greatly exaggerated. Besides, that has nothing to do with me. Maybe I'll put an arrow through the minister of war Count Bergliez if I get petty, but otherwise I don't see why I should hold that decision against the thousands of people who didn't make it."

"You know, Shamir. That almost sounded profound. I bet there's something in there about salvation and forgiveness."

"Forgiveness is for the weak. Not wasting my energy on pointless squabbles is the goal."

Catherine crossed her arms. "So why are you here, Shamir? Why are you patching me up and hiding out in this shack if the Knights of Seiros are done for?"

"Because…" She knew the answer, but saying it out loud was awkward. Those were words that were supposed to belong to other people.

"Because?" Catherine said.

Shamir scowled. "Because I care about you, okay? Now shut up and sit still while I change your bandages."

"So you're not a heartless monster after all. Who would have guessed?"

"Hmph. I like you despite your idiocy, you know. The least you could do is be understanding of my personality."

"So being an idiot is my personality?"

"You're a meathead. Are you denying it?"

Catherine laughed. "You're ruthless."

"And you're not denying the truth."

A shrug. "If that's what gives me strength, so be it."

"And that's what I find attractive about you."

Catherine jolted up straight in her sitting position. "Did you just say…?"

"When you go out and cut through swaths of enemies, it makes me think I'm in love," Shamir said. "I know you're going to laugh, but it's really not funny. I experience attraction like everyone else."

"Yeah, but you're…" Catherine gestured for Shamir to finish.

"I'm what?"

A smile. "You know."

"I don't."

Catherine paused. "You don't seem like the romantic type."

"I experience romantic feelings. Though I may _stop _experiencing those romantic feelings for a certain someone if you don't let me change your bandages. If you must die, I'll accept it. But I refuse to let you go down to an infection."

"Aw, what a sweetheart. I love you too."

Too casual. Shamir wanted those words to mean something. Most people in this world were boring, little more than machines with a slightly more complicated routine, but Catherine was different. Shamir would never get tired of her smooth sword strokes, her laugh as enemy blood sprayed in her face, her smile as she limped out of a fight bleeding from a dozen spots on her body. It was almost like… him.

Shamir hadn't told Catherine about him yet. Not that she was hiding the information, but there was no reason to talk to anyone about her past. Especially when there was no chance Catherine was ever going to meet him.

_Súile ar an duais. _That was what he always used to tell her in Dagdan. Eyes on the prize. Was Shamir letting herself get distracted by Catherine, or was Catherine her future?

As Shamir reached for Catherine's bandages, a knock sounded on the door to the shack. Shamir grabbed her bow and crept towards the door. Without even thinking, she walked in a way that kept her footsteps silent. Catherine's breathing was obnoxiously loud, but Shamir couldn't draw attention to it without creating more noise. Thank goodness Catherine at least had the sense to stay still and not say anything.

Shamir peeked outside a hole in the shack and saw Rhea standing outside. As a human this time, not whatever monstrosity she had turned into in Fhirdiad. Fódlan was such a strange land, where mythical monsters and autonomous war machines were the norm. It was crazier than the kids' stories she scoffed at as a child in Dagda.

But Rhea being here presented a conundrum. If she knew that Shamir deserted to avoid the bloodshed that Claude and Annette were going to unleash at the school of sorcery, her life was forfeit. But if she tried to ward Rhea off and her game was discovered, she might give herself away as a deserter unprompted. The smart move here was to stay still and wait for Rhea to leave. Shamir looked back at Catherine.

Damn it.

Rhea was already reaching for the door when Shamir opened it, which made her feel better about the decision. Rhea's eyes widened in surprise as Shamir came face to face with her.

"Ah, my apologies," Rhea said. "I didn't think there was anyone here. Is it okay if I rest inside for a while?"

"Lady Rhea." Catherine rose to her feet. "I'm so glad that you're alive."

Rhea cocked her head. "I… think you have the wrong person."

Shamir narrowed her eyes. This was definitely Rhea. There were a few nicks on her face that Shamir recognized, ruling out the possibility of an identical twin.

"Well, why don't you come in out of the cold?" Shamir said.

"Thank you."

Rhea stepped inside and sat down, rubbing her arms.

"Lady Rhea," Catherine said, "If this is some sort of test, I still wish to serve you. My blade is yours."

"I…" Rhea turned to Shamir. "Is this your friend? Do you know what she's going on about?"

"We both know you," Shamir said.

"But that's not my name."

"Please, Lady Rhea," Catherine said. "I owe you my life. You don't need to do… whatever this is."

"Quiet, Catherine," Shamir said. To Rhea, "What is your name, then?"

"Seiros. And you are?"

Shamir and Catherine exchanged a glance. So far as Shamir knew, Fódlan people didn't name themselves after saints. Catherine furrowing her brows while simultaneously raising one confirmed that for her.

"Did I say something weird?" Rhea asked. "I know it's not a common name, but it's not that odd." A frown. "You are both humans, yes?"

Catherine blinked. "What else would we be?"

"I know you're not children of the goddess," Rhea said. "And I don't think you're with… them, either."

"Seiros," Shamir said. "May I ask you what year it is?"

Rhea blinked. "That depends where we are, right? I take it we're in the northern providences?"

"We're in Faerghus, yes," Catherine said. "Outside of Fhirdiad."

"Faerghus?" Rhea looked between Catherine and Shamir. "Fhirdiad?"

"Wait," Shamir said, "You're not using the Imperial calendar, Seiros?"

"Imperial… what empire? To you it might seem like your human city-states and kingdoms are large, but that's not how we see it."

"You've forgotten about the Adrestian Empire too?" Catherine said. "We're at war with them."

Classic Catherine. Well, Shamir wasn't going to waste this opportunity to get some more information out of Rhea. If her stories were consistent with those about Saint Seiros… well, Shamir didn't know exactly what that could mean, but now was her chance to ask.

"Do you know people by the names of Cichol, Cethleann, Indech, and Macuil?" Shamir said.

Rhea nodded. "I'm a little surprised that humans know them. I didn't think they got out much." A smirk emerged at the corner of her lips.

"What about a man named Nemesis?" Shamir said.

"Nemesis…" Rhea frowned. "That doesn't sound familiar to me."

"Shamir," Catherine said. "Where are you going with this? I thought you didn't even know our Fódlan myths and history."

"It seems our friend here believes that she is Saint Seiros," Shamir said, "From a time before the Adrestian Empire existed. Is it so odd to find that curious?"

"I never claimed I was a saint," Rhea said.

Well, that made sense. The person Rhea was now predated the Church of Seiros.

"Now that things are more interesting," Shamir said, "We should make plans for you and Rhea to regroup with the others, Catherine. She has a lot of explaining to do to them, and you hae a lot of explaining to do to her. Maybe you can jog her memory by mentioning some of what's happened since the founding the Adrestian Empire."

"Shamir, you don't actually think…" Catherine said.

"Despite the fact that this is marginally more interesting than the rest of you Fódlan people, I don't especially care. After you're healed up and you set off with Rhea to regroup with the knights, I'm out."

"You're…" Catherine frowned. "What? We need you now more than ever, Shamir."

"Too late. I deserted back in Fhirdiad. No point in defending a city on fire. If the knights see me again, my head will become a nice decoration atop some gate or another."

Catherine's eyes widened. "You didn't."

"You're only alive because I made the right choice, Catherine. Claude and Annette were going to kill me if I stayed and fought, and then I wouldn't be here to tend to your wounds. And then Rhea would have been left wandering the snowfields of Faerghus on her own with no memory. Sometimes life works out."

"We're going to have a long discussion later about this, Shamir," Catherine said.

"A discussion of words, or blades?"

"I haven't decided yet. But I can't turn you in."

"I'm sure Cristophe's spirit is laughing at you for saying that."

"He didn't save my life like you're doing, Shamir. I… You said you care about me, and I care about you too. We'll find some way to make this work."

Shamir glanced at Rhea. "Really? We're getting sentimental in front of a third party?"

Catherine scowled. "Fuck off. I just said I care about you, Shamir."

"Ah, there's the Catherine I know."

"I don't entirely understand what's going on," Rhea said, "But it looks like I'm best following the two of you for now."

Catherine nodded, and then smiled at Shamir. Despite everything, it looked like there was some joy to be found in the aftermath of a battlefield.

Shamir hadn't realized how much she needed it before saying goodbye.

* * *

**Slowly, the aromantic author gets more comfortable writing romantic subtext. **

**I realized today that I haven't spoken a word out loud to anyone since Wednesday morning. I think the pandemic is finally wearing down on me after six months. It really does help to know that there are people reading the stuff I put out in the world, so thank you all for that. :)**

**But enough of my personal stuff. One of the criticisms people have of Silver Snow is that Rhea's barely in it. But if she were present as her archbishop self, she'd stifle the arcs of other characters by being a force of authority that they must learn to live without. So I thought the easiest solution to have more Rhea is to give her amnesia about the last 1000 years so she can be in the story without dominating every scene she's in.**

**Besides that, it was a lot of fun to write Shamir. Highly recommend. :)**

**Notes:**

-Shamir fought in the war between Dagda and the Adrestian Empire, which is referenced here. It's discussed at length in her support conversations with Caspar, whose father is the Minister of War.

-Shamir has an unnamed lover that rarely comes up in discussion. She never seems awkward about it so I gave her the reasoning that she just doesn't think it's worth bringing up.

-The "Dagdan" I have here is Irish, since Dagda is an Irish word.


	33. Interlude: Ingrid

**1 day after the events of part 2:**

Ingrid Brandl Galatea walked through the streets of Fhirdiad, glancing around at the buildings and reminding herself what they used to be. A weapons store where Ingrid held her first silver lance as a child, which she whirled outside until her father took it away and she nearly cried. A toy shop where she got her first wooden knight figure. She still had it back at home in Galatea territory, the paint mostly chipped off by now. And the sweets shop. She promised to go there with friends when they were at the Officers Academy, but when the war broke out she never had a chance to fulfil her end of the promise. It was her, Annette, and…

Mercedes.

Ingrid squeezed her eyes shut. A hand fell on her shoulder, and she looked over at Sylvain, who offered her a smile that was supposed to be reassuring. He couldn't mask the fatigue in his expression, but it made Ingrid feel better that he was exhausted too.

"So many memories," she said. "I wonder which of these places Glenn liked to visit."

"Probably the weapons shop, same as you," Sylvain says. "My favorite spot was the instrument store over in the west part of town. So many shy girls there playing beautiful songs. I remember a redhead with freckles playing the flute and blushing after I applauded her performance."

"I bet she was embarrassed at you making an ass of yourself stepping in on a private lesson," Ingrid said. "Any sign of His Highness?"

"Let's keep going. There's nothing outside the city, so he must be here."

Sylvain was right about the area outside Fhirdiad being a desolate snowfield, but Ingrid wasn't convinced that fact could stop Dimitri from lumbering off to wherever his bloodhound snout led him. For all they knew, he could be chasing after Imperials right now.

After searching the rest of the street, neither of them spotted any sign of Dimitri. A few people were out in the streets, but none of them remarked seeing a man wearing animal fur and an eyepatch barging through town with a relic spear. That meant he was either hiding in one of the side alleys they didn't bother checking, he was outside Fhirdiad entirely, or he was… in the wreckage. The spot where the javelin of light exploded over the city like the world's largest storm of fire magic. But instead of burning, it reduced everything to rubble. No burning like a blaze gambit.

Who launched that attack? Did the Empire hate Fhirdiad so much that they wanted to grind every brick and stone down to dust? Byleth. Edelgard. Dorothea. Ingrid knew them back at Garreg Mach. She didn't want to believe that they launched the light lance, but nobody else made sense. Rhea gave her life trying to protect the city from the exploding lances even after ordering it burned down, and Dimitri didn't have access to that kind of magic. Claude was a ruthless schemer and apparently an Imperial dog now, but he didn't have any more capacity for magic than she did.

"Are we going there?" Ingrid said.

Sylvain nodded. He didn't have to ask where "there" was.

Ingrid walked over to the site of the wreckage, and right before turning the corner into the area where Rhea made her defense against the invaders, she saw it. Dimitri hunched over something she couldn't see, flanked on one side by Annette and the other side by Ashe. Dimitri looked over at her and Sylvain when they approached, his eye narrowing.

"You." His voice was harsh as normal, but strained. "Why did you obey my orders all this time?"

"I… don't you know, Dimitri?" Ingrid said. "I'm a knight. It's my duty to follow your commands. If you wish for me to die for you, I will."

"You are a fool. Look at me, Ingrid. Look at what I have become."

Dimitri took off his eyepatch, and Ingrid could see the scars from where his eye used to be. But he was wrong that the Empire forcing him to be brutal for the sake of survival made him any less of a lord. Any less of a prince. Any less of a king. In Faerghus, only the determined and the strong survived the harsh winters and poor soils. Only the strong were fit to protect the weak.

"And what about you, Sylvain?" Dimitri said. "You must recognize another miserable wretch when you see one. Why follow me into battle? Into _this?_"

Dimitri gestured around him. Ruins. Cinders. Rubble. The pride and glory of the Kingdom, torn asunder. At the hands of the Empire. At the hands of whoever launched those light lances.

And at the hands of the Knights of Seiros, who were supposed to protect the realm.

"I couldn't let my friend lose to himself," Sylvain said. "Plus, I needed to make sure Ingrid and Felix didn't die stupid deaths."

Sylvain rested his elbow in Ingrid's shoulder. For once, she didn't brush him off.

"You failed," Dimitri says. "You are both worthless."

He rose to a standing position, and as his long fur robes converged around the legs, Ingrid could see what he was kneeling over.

It was Felix's body, eyes open and glassy, blade and Aegis Shield still in hand. The traitor. Ingrid started towards his body, and Sylvain grabbed her arm. When she looked back at him, he gave a curt shake of his head.

"Annette," Ashe said. "Did you find anything?"

"Dark magic," she said. "The kind Hubert and Lysithea use."

"Lysithea is affiliated with the Empire now, right?" Ingrid said. "It must be one of those two."

Annette shook her head. "The signature is different from theirs. But I don't know anyone else who uses dark magic. We don't teach it at the School of Sorcery."

"Cornelia," Dimitri says. "She was on my list of people to crush regardless."

Ingrid exchanged a glance with Sylvain. They both knew that Dimitri escaped captivity after Cornelia framed him for the death of his uncle Rufus, but neither of them had heard the details before.

"You did well," Dimitri said, looking between Ashe and Annette, "To abandon me. See what happens whenever I lead an army into battle."

"And the victories are almost worse than the defeats," Sylvain said.

That took Ingrid back to the bridge, crossing from Alliance into Empire territory. Corpses crushed and mutilated until Ingrid couldn't even make out the shape of a person anymore. Blood and internal organs she had never seen in so much gory detail before. But it was her duty as a knight to keep going forward.

"It's not your fault that Felix betrayed us, Your Highness," Ingrid said. "You must not fault yourself for his death."

"And what about Mercedes?" Dimitri's eye turned on her. "What did she ever do wrong, other than choosing to follow a beast like me? Felix was right. There's no hope in this world for monsters like me. I'm going to Arianrhod to kill Cornelia. Don't follow me."

"Your Highness, please," Ashe said. "There's no reason to go alone."

"Silence." Dimitri glared at Ashe. "You left me to die when I invaded the Empire. You and Annette both. It was the right choice then, and it's the right choice now."

Ingrid noticed that Annette was staring at the ground. Must be thinking about Mercedes. It was Edelgard herself who killed the poor girl. If Ingrid had been in position to help… but no, she did the right thing by staying where she was commanded to be. If knights started to question their lords, the whole system broke down and battlefields turned to chaos.

"You are the whole hope of this broken Kingdom," Sylvain said. "Don't you think you owe it to your people to-"

"I owe them _nothing. _It's the ghosts that need to be appeased, Sylvain. And now Felix is one of them. Him, Glenn, father…"

Ingrid gnawed on the inside of her mouth. Poor Rodrigue was back in the territories resisting the Empire's onslaught, keeping the last of the Kingdom's lands stable. He was going to have to hear that his last son died a traitor to the throne.

"I am ordering you to leave me alone," Dimitri said. Turning to Ingrid, "If I'm so wise as your lord, then surely I know best now. Listen for word of my death and celebrate when I'm gone. Those are my commands."

Ashe and Annette both opened their mouth to respond, but Dimitri whirled around and started walking away. His bloodstained robes dragged along the cracked stone ground as he grew more and more distant.

"Well, guess that's it," Sylvain said. "Rough life, but we rolled the dice and lost. I'm not about to follow him on a suicide mission."

Ingrid gnashed her teeth together. Commands were commands, but she couldn't let her liege meet his end like this. Not after everything. Five and a half years of bloody war had earned them a starving Kingdom and a shattered city. Ingrid didn't know if she could bear to lose anything else.

"Hey Annette," Sylvain said. "You do magical shit, right?"

"Uh, yeah. Can I help you with something?"

"I wonder if we could preserve Felix's body or levitate it or something," Sylvain said. "I don't want to drag our friend through the streets to give him a proper burial."

"I can get people who can help," Annette says. "Be right back."

"Oh no you don't." Sylvain ran a hand through his hair, grinning. "I'm not about to let a pretty young lady go out on her own in this city of ruins and looters, even if I know you can protect yourself."

Ingrid could see Annette's eye twitch. For all of Sylvain's insistence that attracting girls was a craft honed by years of experience, he only seemed to make women angry at him.

"Fine," Annette said. "But don't slow me down."

"Sylvain," Ingrid cut in. "Is Felix worth it? Can you even call him our friend, after what he did to His Highness? I think we should let him rot."

"Can't afford to be choosey about friends in times like this," Sylvain said. "Be right back, Ingrid. Don't miss me too much."

"Don't worry. That's never an issue."

Sylvain snorted and walked off with Annette. Ingrid looked back down at Felix's body. She always worried in the back of her mind that he might desert if Dimitri's rampages became too much, but Ingrid never suspected he was capable of turning his blade against king and friend. She wanted to ram her spear through his face until she couldn't recognize him anymore, but that was letting him win. She must let duty drown out anger.

"Did you mean what you told Sylvain?" came Ashe's voice. "About letting him rot, I mean."

Ingrid turned to face him. He looked contemplative as he stared down at Felix's body, weary pain in his eyes like a father watching his kids go off to war.

"Sylvain said that he turned on Dimitri," Ingrid said. "Tried to kill him."

"Because of Claude." Ashe looked up at her. "I know, Ingrid."

Claude von Riegan. That man was supposed to be dead. Was better off dead, so far as Ingrid was concerned. It was a shame she wasn't a second faster with her lance when they jousted while Fhirdiad was burning. But how did he even manage to escape the Battle at Gronder alive? Inrgid saw Leonie go down. She saw Byleth capture Ignatz. Yet the man with the golden scheme and the smile that didn't reach his eyes managed to duck out of every scenario. Then he came back and fought _for _the Empire that reduced his precious Alliance to ruins.

"Do you hate him too?" Ashe said.

"If we all banded up against the Empire from the start, we could have won," Ingrid said. "But Claude only wanted to protect his own. It didn't matter to him if Fhirdiad starved."

"It mattered to him if Fhirdiad burned."

"Why are you taking his side here?" Ingrid narrowed her gaze. "He believes in _nothing, _Ashe. Same as Edelgard. Same as…"

Same as Dimitri. Ingrid couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Before the fight started, he was trying to evacuate the city. When Rhea ordered the city burned down, he wasn't going to take kindly to that. And he wasn't the only one."

Ingrid looked back at Felix's body. "Neither of them have honor, Ashe. If everyone has a different call on the situation, the whole situation devolves into chaos. Our duty is to follow orders."

"I became a knight to protect people, Ingrid," Ashe said. "And I don't regret what I did. I'm sure Annette doesn't, either."

Before Ingrid knew it, her lance was out and pointed at Ashe. He unslung his bow, grabbing an arrow from his quiver. He looked ready to nock and loose at a sudden movement.

"Are we doing this, Ingrid?" Ashe whispered, looking her in the eye. "Are we getting more people killed today?"

"Traitor. What's Annette planning to do with Sylvain?"

"He was the one who asked to follow along, remember? We don't want to fight you. We only want to protect our city. And if Rhea's the one burning everything down, she needed to be stopped."

"And what about the javelin of light?" Ingrid said. "The Empire annihilated Fhirdiad and all you can talk about is how the church is evil?"

"That wasn't Edelgard's fault."

Ingrid took a step towards Ashe, and he fell back one footstep in response.

"How does her boot taste, so far down your throat?" Ingrid said.

"Byleth was there with us. Annette can back me up on this. They knew the javelin of light was coming, and Claude believed them. That's why we went after Rhea, Ingrid. She was the only one who could stop it."

And _this _was stopping it? Ingrid took a deep breath, keeping her gaze trained on Ashe. Then she put her lance away. Ashe lowered his bow.

"Ingrid?" he said.

"I'm tired, Ashe. Tired of losing friends. When does this all end?

"I wish I could tell you."

Her gaze went back to Felix. Still the same lifeless body.

"Did I ever tell you what the worst thing Felix said to me was?" Ingrid asked.

"Do I want to know?"

"Back at the monastery. We were talking about a situation where our commander gave us orders that put our hometown in danger. Hypothetical, at the time."

"Ah." Ashe averted his gaze.

"You can guess what my view was."

He nodded. "Duty above all else."

"And that's when Felix told me I wasn't cut out to be a knight. That I should find a husband instead."

Ashe winces as if struck. "That's awful of him to say."

"It was. And…" Ingrid closed her eyes. "I'm wondering if he was right."

"Ingrid, you're a wonderful knight. You shouldn't give up on your dreams to-"

"Not about that. About not following blind orders if it puts people we care about in danger." Her eyes flashed open. "Felix has always been an asshole. I'm not going to weep for his death. I know he wouldn't weep for mine. And I'll never forgive him for betraying me, or his words to me that day. But we can't keep going on like this, Ashe."

"That's right. Annette and I feel the same way. When someone tries to put your city on fire, you stop them."

Even if they're your commander. Ingrid inhaled, letting the icy air coat the inside of her lungs.

"And when someone you care about is walking into a hopeless mission but tells you not to follow, isn't it still our job to get him out of there?"

Ashe examined her expression. She didn't know what he got from her face, but after a second a smile came to his face. A lone ray of warmth in a frigid city too tired to blizzard.

"Absolutely," he said.

* * *

**Hey, everyone! :) Turns out I finished writing my novel early. Quite a bit early, in fact. I'm (mostly) caught up with work now so I can get back to plodding along at this fic. **

**This chapter is heavy on Blue Lions/Azure moon references, so for people who haven't played it:**

-I think I mentioned this before, but the sweets shop is referenced in canon and holds fond memories for Annette (who loves sweets) and Mercedes

-Glenn is Felix's older brother who died in an incident called the Tragedy of Duscur, where the King (Dimitri's father Lambert) and others died while visiting Duscur. The people of Duscur were blamed, but Those Who Slither in the Dark were the ones responsible. Glenn was supposed to marry Ingrid before he died, and she thinks fondly of him while not really knowing him well.

-Felix's comment about Ingrid getting a husband is a quote from their B support. It, uh, really stuck out in my mind and you can probably see why. Comes out of nowhere, too.

**Review Response: Dictator Mags: **Thank you! :) There will be more twists and-unfortunately-more deaths.


	34. Interlude: Dorothea

**One week after the events in part 2:**

Dorothea Arnault searched through her belongings in her room at Garreg Mach. Gold, jewels, glassware, gifts from fancy nobles that made her queasy every time she looked at them. But she couldn't give it all away because then what was going to happen when she stopped being useful to the people around her and they threw her back out onto the streets?

And then she found what she was looking for. A book of sheet music, worn from five years of use. Most of the songs inside were basic and not especially fun to sing, but Dorothea enjoyed going through the book and humming the tunes to herself. Not because of the music itself, but because of who it came from.

Edelgard was confident Byleth was coming back, but Dorothea saw that explosion. She thought she knew war. She was almost used to torn-apart families and fields of corpses for crows to converge upon like a storm. Almost But the damage dealt by the javelin of light wasn't the same. If Rhea hadn't flown up to engage them, the entire city of Fhirdiad would be ground to dust. Thousands of lives vaporized in a snap of the fingers. When she saw the explosion overhead, the sensation of terrible awe made her knees weak.

Could Byleth survive a weapon like that?

Dorothea went back to her mirror and finished her braids. By the time she was done, it still didn't look as good as Petra's, but she bet she could pass as someone from Brigid to most Fódlanese. It was good that she asked Petra if an outsider wearing braids like this was disrespectful to Brigid culture before she…

No. Dorothea wasn't going to think about that.

A knock on her door. "Best not be late, Dorothea. Edelgard is ready to start the meeting."

Oh, Ferdie. Same self-assured tone as usual, but Dorothea couldn't even be mad at him now. Being a rose with only thorns left on it meant nobody wanted to acknowledge her existence. Ferdinand showing her any sort of recognition at all was an improvement over what she got from most of the army. She wasn't a born leader like most in the Black Eagle Strike Force. And unlike Linhardt, she couldn't coast by on noble prestige. Nobody knew who—or what—she was.

"Coming," Dorothea said. "Give me a moment, Ferdie."

She put on her boots, gripped the book of sheet music, and moved towards the door. If this is what winning a war felt like, how must harder must it be for the people on the losing side?

#

Dorothea gathered with the rest of the Black Eagle Strike Force in the ruined cathedral at Garreg Mach. It was ironic, how most of their plans to dismantle the church came from a room of worship. But it had the most open space and the most security against spies, more so than the actual war planning room, so Byleth and Edelgard decided to make it a makeshift strategy room when models and miniatures weren't needed.

The circle of chairs was still there from last meeting, and when Dorothea got there she noted the two that had been pushed out of the way. Nine became seven. Who was next? Dorothea sat down between Caspar and Ferdinand, who both acknowledged her with a nod.

"I'm glad that you could all join us today," Edelgard said. "I wish I could say that this war is finished, but we still have work to do."

Dorothea's body slouched of its own volition. How much longer could they go on before everything collapsed beneath their feet? Each step Dorothea took towards battle was unbearable.

"We still have much work left to do," Hubert said. "We suffered great losses at Fhirdiad, which has made some of the nobles ambitious. Most of them were benefiting from the powerless emperor who sat on the throne before Her Majesty ascended to rule Adrestia, and they are not happy to take orders from those who care about the people of the realm rather than them."

Dorothea pursed her lips. It was beginning. The collapse.

"We will quash these noble rebellions," Edelgard said. "And then we will attack Arianrhod to dispose of Cornelia. We may also find my uncle there, which will be a happy family reunion."

Based on the hungry grin on Edelgard's face, Dorothea could tell exactly what type of reunion she was hoping for.

"The Silver Maiden?" Caspar said. "How are we going to take a fortress like that?"

"I don't seem to recall any of you asking these questions before," Edelgard said. "This was the plan all along. Pay attention, Caspar."

Silence fell over the room. Who was going to be the one to say it?

"That was the plan," Ferdinand said, "When we knew Byleth could come up with something."

Edelgard stiffened. "They will return to us. Have faith, everyone. Remember how they showed up when we needed them most after everyone thought they died before? This is no different."

Dorothea looked at the ground. This _was _different, because they found Petra's dead body in Fhirdiad. So long as Byleth was alive, Dorothea was convinced that they weren't going to let harm come to any of their students. It was an impossible expectation, but Dorothea had seen firsthand how Byleth anticipated ambushes and made last-second adjustments in battle to avoid being outmaneuvered when they couldn't have possibly known what the enemy was planning. It was as if they had a third eye that let them see into the future.

"But what about the javelins of light?" Linhardt said. "Shouldn't we do some more investigating about where those came from before we make any hasty decisions?"

"The church was the one who launched them," Edelgard said. "Now that Rhea is dealt with, we should have nothing to worry about from that front."

Not that anyone had found Rhea's body. Plus, where could the church have launched those explosive javelins from? And why now, after five and a half brutal years of war? Dorothea scanned everyone's faces, looking for a tell. Edelgard and Hubert were neutral, but Lysithea wasn't hiding her grimace well. Byleth seemed to know the people who launched the javelins, and it wasn't the church. Dorothea got the feeling Lysithea knew more than she was letting on about the shadowy assailants.

"For now, take some time off," Edelgard said. "You've all earned it. We'll hold a funeral service for Petra tomorrow, and I hope to see you all there. Once we're ready to quash some noble uprisings, I'll let you know."

That prompted a series of nods from around the room. After Edelgard rose from her seat and left, people started to disperse. This wasn't okay. People were acting like they could all keep on going as normal, but that wasn't possible without Byleth and Petra. Dorothea could already imagine Fódlan sliding back into the same bloody stalemate it had been a year ago.

On her way out, Dorothea caught Lysithea and motioned over to a private corner of the cathedral. Lysithea followed along, and Dorothea could see her brain working at high speed as if she were solving a math equation. At Garreg Mach she heard that Lysithea was supposed to be a prodigy and assumed it was the usual noble being praised for not acting like a complete idiot, but Lysithea worked harder at her studies than anyone Dorothea knew. She only got her opportunities because she was a noble, but she made the most of them.

"You caught Edie's mistake, didn't you?" Dorothea said.

Lysithea hesitated. "I don't want to go against Her Majesty's word."

"Cut the bullshit. You believe Byleth over Edelgard, right?"

"Their explanation makes sense, when I think about it. The three biggest threats to Those Who Slither in the Dark are Rhea, Edelgard, and Byleth. Might as well use their big magic when all three are present."

"Do you think Edie knows that they did it?"

"I told her as much."

Dorothea drew in a sharp breath. "So she lied to all of us. No shame, no decency."

"Is that what you believe, Dorothea? The time you and she spent together as part of the same team-"

"Was because of Byleth," Dorothea said. "After they leave, it starts falling apart. Noble revolutions. Edie treating us as pawns. That's not new for her, either. She killed Judith at the Great Bridge of Myrddin. She killed Mercedes during the Battle at Gronder. We might be next on the chopping block."

"You don't mean that." Lysithea's eyes widened. "You can't mean that. We're in this together, Dorothea."

Did Dorothea mean what she was saying? That Edelgard was only ever reasonable because she had Byleth to hold her back, and that she was a twisted sociopath underneath? Dorothea didn't know. But each time she trusted a noble, she got burned.

"Petra died for this," Dorothea said. "And it's not over. Edie talks about how her path is laid out in blood, and I can't see that ever stopping. For her or Hubie."

Lysithea averted her gaze. "Marianne. Raphael. Judith. Leonie."

"Lysithea?"

"I watched my friends die at the hands of the Empire. And I decided to join you and Edelgard. Do you know why?"

Dorothea didn't know. How could anyone keep fighting in a war that had taken so many of their friends?

"Because Those Who Slither in the Dark are going to destroy this world," Lysithea said. "You saw what they did to Fhirdiad. And the experiments they did to me and Edelgard…"

Lysithea hugged her arms in shivered. In that one moment, she looked like a frightened child half her age. Dorothea reached out to hug her by instinct, but hesitated.

"What did they do to you?" Dorothea said.

"Horrors." Lysithea's voice was a whisper. "They made us into who we are today. That was their mistake. Together, Edelgard and I will destroy them until not even shattered remains are left behind. And we need your help."

But Edelgard refused to acknowledge the dangers of Those Who Slithered in the Dark. She was still bent on razing the church to the ground. How many more Knights of Seiros and Kingdom soldiers needed to die before this war was over?

"I'm not strong enough," Dorothea said. "I'm an opera singer, not a soldier."

"Do you think Edelgard and I are fighting this war because we're strong? We don't have another option besides war. This is our only way we can take control of our own fates. The thought of running off now is unbearable."

"Our own fates, huh?"

"Please, Dorothea. Cracks in our army turn to gashes in an instant. Everything could come crumbling down, and Those Who Slither in the Dark could march over our bodies."

"You say that this is the only way for you to live," Dorothea said. "My only way is to leave. Byleth brought me the false promise that they could protect all of us, and now that they're gone the reality is setting in. I have to go."

Lysithea deflated, her shoulders slouching. "Then go. I won't tell Edelgard. No point in getting you executed for desertion."

Dorothea offered a thankful nod. She wasn't sure if Lysithea caught it. Now, who else could she persuade to go along with her? She was planning to ask everyone except Hubert, since he had no problems turning her over for execution if he thought she was a threat to Edelgard's reign. But she could already guess what most of their answers were going to be. Running away was too much work for Lin, too anxiety-inducing for Bern, and too far outside Caspar's sense of justice. There was only one person who she was holding out hope for.

Someone who was never afraid to stand up to Edelgard, even when the others cowered in fear. Someone who lost all of his land when Edelgard took control of the throne, and had nothing left to even prove he was a noble. Someone who insisted on caring about her despite her attempts to push him away. Someone she had misunderstood for the past five—no—ten years.

She closed her eyes and pictured him. Long, orange hair like a stallion's mane with a too-confident smile aimed at reassuring her.

Ferdie.

* * *

**Notes:**

-In Edelgard's route, TWSID destroys Airianrhod with their magic nukes and Edelgard blames it on the church, which leads to some distrust in her army.

-The line about being a rose with only thorns is taken from one of Dorothea's battle quotes.

-One of the gifts you can give in the monastery is a book of sheet music, which is one of Dorothea's preferred gifts.

-In Dorothea's A support with Petra, they talk about Petra's braids and they agree to wear matching braids and it's super sweet. I thought that I should have Dorothea honor Petra properly.

-Dorothea's support conversations with Ferdinand are a classic enemies to friends (to lovers?) that are also amazing.


	35. Chapter 26: Earth's Last Repose

**Part 3: Silver Moon**

I make my way back to Robin and Lucina's house. It's only after I ring the doorbell that I realize I didn't text them to let them know I was showing up. I hear footsteps shuffling towards the door, which opens to reveal a grinning Morgan.

"Forget something?" she says.

"Got in a fight."

"I can tell. You look like shit."

She opens the door wider and I step in. From the TV in the room connected to the front hallway, I hear music from that RPG she had me play. Maybe this is the universe telling me to stay here, laughing at my attempts to change Fódlan. Whatever happens, Byleth will be there to make the decisions and rule over the continent as they see fit.

Except they needed my help to turn Rhea against the nuclear missiles sent by Those Who Slither in the Dark. Wow, that's a sentence I never expected to think. It's almost funny, but I can't bring myself to so much as chuckle.

I couldn't save Petra and Felix.

Robin and Lucina show up as I'm about finished with my absentminded thinking. Even a greeting is too much for me to muster at this point. I hope they understand, but I'm also too tired to process their expressions to see if they're offended. I hobble off to the bathroom to wash off my grime. Once I step into the bathtub, I realize that I barely have the energy to stand, so I take a bath instead of my shower.

A nice, long soak where I can think about nothing.

#

I don't remember the time between getting out of the bathtub and getting into bed. The next thing I know, I awake under a pile of soft blankets. I sit up to find that every muscle in my body is sore. I cough into my elbow, but even that feels weak. I'm in fresh clothes, so I must have changed last night before drifting off to sleep.

I'm still not rested, and even making my own meals is a challenge. Lucina and Robin tell me not to push myself, and after struggling through breakfast and lunch I let them make dinner for me. They don't ask questions about what happened, and I can tell from the way they look at me that they get it. The way exhaustion drowns everything else out until there's nothing worth saying.

I spend those first couple of days staring off into the distance. Eating each meal takes over an hour for me to eat. Occasionally I'm able to harness my inaction into a round of meditation, but even that feels like it consumes energy I don't have. It's only after I take a walk around the neighborhood a few days after returning that I feel like I have the strength to talk and be a regular member of society.

I talk to Lucina first. She's happy that I'm ready to open up, and also mentions that she's glad that I'm letting their family take care of me.

"We help each other through the ups and downs," she says, "And you're included in that. I don't want you to ever feel like you're alone, Claude."

After I finish telling her what happened in Fódlan, she pulls me into a hug. I do my best to not physically cling onto her when she starts pulling away. After releasing me, she cocks her head and looks up at the corner of the ceiling.

"What do you make of this Byleth person?" she says. "I know you're on opposite sides of the war, but it sounds like they care about you."

"I don't know if it matters what I make of them. All this time I was trying to tear them down from their seat of godlike power, but I never had a ghost of a chance. Is this what it was like for the rest of the world when the European powers started invading during the age of colonialism?"

My mom's part Irish but disconnected from their heritage, and my dad's homeland Iran was one of the few places that managed to avoid being colonized. So I don't have those stories of being brutalized by European powers in my bloodline like so many other people do.

"Even for them it didn't sound so hopeless," Lucina says. "Robin tells me many people on all sides of the colonialism issue seem to forget how much resistance the native people put up."

This takes me back to my conversation with Byleth at the Catholic school about European colonials committing genocide against the Native Americans on the ground we stood upon. How do they preach about that and then participate in the same imperialist power grab over in Fódlan?

"I think they're a nice person," I say, "And also someone who caused unimaginable suffering. But it doesn't matter. The war is over. They'll pull the strings of Fódlan how they see fit. If any more of my former classmates die under mysterious circumstances, I'll go over and do my best to kill them."

"So you're done with Fódlan?"

"What else is left for me to do? I thought that as a leader, I had the ability to make a difference. But I was just another monkey in Byleth's cage."

"Yet not everything goes according to their plans." Lucina's face softens. "It sounds like you saved thousands of lives by getting Rhea to take down those missiles."

Maybe I did. So why does that act feel so empty? All this time I was struggling against Byleth, dying to prove that my choices and actions should matter too, they can still crush me at any moment they choose. I'll never be free to control my own destiny so long as they're alive, in power, and on the same plane of existence as me. I thought the solution was to defeat them, but that's not possible.

Instead, I have to avoid them for the rest of my life.

"Your family is using Earth to get something useful that can help you back in your native dimension, right?" I say. "Well, I'm doing the same. And Fódlan has exhausted its use for me."

I can tell that I'm not being fully rational right now. That Lucina's right about me saving people, that my impact on Fódlan as an important lord who can influence the inner working of the Alliance will be more than this world ever offers me. Hell, maybe I'll even go back there some day. But I'm sick of having my life dictated by Byleth's whims.

"That's fair enough," Lucina says. "You should take some time to rest up here before making any big decisions regardless. Robin can help build your new identity when you're ready."

Right, I'm still supposed to be on the run from the cops. I go back to the guest room to see that I have a new message on my phone. The only people who know that I came back to this dimension are in this household, so I don't know what this could be about. I go to my messages app and nearly drop my phone when I see the person texting.

Dimitri.

The message itself is a simple _"You there?" _I take a deep breath and steady my fingers to respond.

#

_10:40_

Dimitri? Is that u?

No, I'm a ghost.

Uhh…

Yes, it's me, Claude.

I've gone through some weird shit so I wanted to make sure

Mm.

Was there something u wanted to talk about?

Give me a second.

Sure, take ur time

_10:52_

Why do you still care about me?

Wait, do you even still care about me?

Course I do

And what kind of question is that?

You mean a lot to me and I want you to be happy

Where have you been over the past five years, Claude?

That's kinda a long story

And u probably won't believe it

Scratch that, u definitely won't believe it

But I do care about you. I promise

_10:59_

I don't know if much can surprise me anymore.

Is this related to you being covered in blood before the police attacked?

Uh…

Maybe

There are no normal explanations for that.

Hit me with your wildest shot, Claude.

I was in another dimension

Shit that happens there also happens here

So I got in a battle on that day five years ago in that other dimension

And I knew it was coming to us too

So yeah, that's why I was bloody and all that

Oh, and it was how I knew about Marianne

And that's where you've been the past five years?

Pretty much

I can travel back and forth now, but for a while I couldn't

Byleth's also from there, and so is the creep who attacked us

Arundel? He's my uncle, you know.

He's actually a shapeshifting mole person

Okay that sounds super fucking weird when I type that out

I did see Rhea.

Oh, that's right. There are lizard people like her, and there are also mole people

They don't like each other

The mole people in the alternate dimension also have nukes

But it's like mostly medieval fantasy

I'm not doing a good job of explaining this, am I?

Either this world is even stranger than I thought or you put too much work into this lie.

Why don't we talk about this over video chat? I want to say goodbye to your face.

_11: 16_

…yeah, that sounds like a good idea

Now I really wanna talk

I'll add u on Discord

#

At this point, I'm always surprised when anything relating to computers works correctly, so I'm already off kilter when we get a video chat going within minutes. Dimitri looks the same as when I last saw him, and I give up trying to count the fast food boxes in the background of his room when I come to the conclusion that many more are likely hid beneath the clothes he has strewn around.

The only difference is that his posture is slumped over instead of looking like a caged animal. We sit in the call for several minutes, neither of us speaking.

"Do you want to tell me what's going on?" I say.

"Five years." Dimitri looks up at me. "An adventure in another dimension, if I'm to believe your wild stories. And still, it should be illegal how little you've changed."

I don't think I'm the same person I was when I was seventeen. Those five years could change anyone. Though Dimitri's right that I'm still in the same conflict. Five years ago, I was struggling to get by in this hostile world around me as someone who's brown, queer, and living without real parents. Now I'm struggling to get by in the hostile world of Fódlan where my fate is controlled by a god wearing stupid little dangling sleeves and itchy leggings.

"I have a beard now," I say. "That's a big difference."

"Right, and you can even rock it while looking rugged rather than like a hobo."

"Hey, aren't you Catholics about compassion for homeless people and all that? No need to use them as the bad standard."

Dimitri snorts. "I can't stand most Catholics. And I can't say I believe anymore."

On its own that's not a troubling statement, but based on how Dimitri's life looks like it's spiraling out of control I doubt he found another source of meaning to replace his faith.

"Prayers feel empty?" I say.

"I stopped trying after that day five years ago. Because it turns out our life paths are decided by god or someone else just like they taught me, but the truth is more horrifying than what I could have imagined."

God or someone else… and in my case, a fusion of both.

"I'm sorry you had to go through what you did on that day," I tell him.

"That was the moment I realized I could never be worthy of you."

"Dimitri."

I wish I could reach through the computer screen and pull him into a hug.

"It's true," he says. "You were out there like a knight in shining armor. Protecting me, Ignatz, and Ashe. Even Lysithea was helpful. But I was a liability."

"Nobody's expecting you to be a renowned warrior. Most people in this world are civilians, Dimitri. There's no shame in not being trained to fight and kill."

"And yet you are."

I shrug. "I've been living in this sort of world for a long time. People like me are objects to be used and crushed rather than being allowed to have our own stories. My parents offered to train me to protect myself, and I thought it was my chance to break out of that cycle of being tread upon."

"And did the killing give you freedom?"

I purse my lips. I took no joy in killing Imperial soldiers who were conscripted to fight in a war that made Edelgard rich and powerful while the rest of her people suffered. But the cops… while I want to say I only fought them to protect the people I cared about, I can't deny that I enjoyed putting the trigger-happy ones in the dirt. To show them even for a dying moment what it was like to have everything taken away by someone cold and uncaring. I hate myself for looking fondly at those deaths, but I've learned that showing compassion to the powerful means letting your guard down if they want to hurt you in the future.

"I'm not sure," I say, "But I can't stop seeing myself as a victim of fate."

He nods in understanding. "Who is it that gets to control their own destiny, Claude? How brutal and powerful do you have to be?"

Good question. I'm not sure I have the answer.

"Sometimes, I think that someone must stop this cycle of the strong trampling the weak," Dimitri says. "But it's hopeless."

"I don't know about that," I say. "There are ways we can help. If we're kind to other victims of fate like us, we can all band together and make a difference."

"But that's not what you've been doing, has it?" Dimitri says. Gaze narrowing, "Why _did _you run off to that alternate dimension for five years? Assuming it even exists, anyway."

I walk him through the basic events of what happened in Fódlan, with a quick introduction about what was going on during our time at school and spending the meat of the explanation of the events of the war.

"So our dear homeroom teacher is a warlord with godlike power." Dimitri smirks. "Is that the strength you need to control your own fate? The powers of a god?"

"I guess so. None of our paths would be the same if they chose differently."

In fact, what would have happened if Byleth had been assigned to the Golden Deer instead of the Black Eagles? If they joined the war on Edelgard's side to protect the students they taught, they could have ended up on the other side of the war if they worked with me for that year instead. I hate how much I want that reality. I should want to claim my own future rather than relying on Byleth's whims to be allowed to exist.

"And the reason you went there so often," Dimitri says, "Was to protect us."

"Still is. It's the one way I could help."

Not that I have a great track record of keeping my classmates alive. I did a decent job keeping civilians out of the line of fire, but my friends in Fódlan wanted to leave their mark on the world as well. Marianne, Raphael, Judith, Mercedes, Leonie, Petra, Felix. Did I make the right choice by honoring their free will instead of locking them up in towers to keep them safe? Their Earth versions never got to make a choice about getting dragged into this, and they still took the fall.

"How the hell did you manage to go through two schools at once?" Dimitri says. "The rest of us were overwhelmed by our school alone."

"Which is why I needed so much help on homework. Thanks for that, by the way."

"If I knew you were protecting me, I would have helped you in more ways."

"You were perfect as you were."

Dimitri's eye twitches. "You don't have to pretend, Claude. I know it's been five years. Did you find your special someone yet?"

Ah, relationships. I haven't had time to think about it much, actually. I would have married in Fódlan if there were any good political alliances I could seal with it, but there was no point in my situation. The two candidates were Hilda and Lysithea, and I was already tight-knit with Hilda's brother while Lysithea's family isn't powerful enough to warrant an alliance.

"Not since you," I say. "Nobody speaks to me in quite the same way."

"But why? I was nothing special, even back then. And now I'm the most undesirable man in the world."

"Whoa there." I make a hand motion for him to slow down. "Don't get ahead of yourself. There are some seriously undesirable men out there."

"Answer the question, Claude."

I catch a slight growl at the end of the sentence. Should I be worried about that? Right now, my best course of action is to keep him talking.

"There are plenty of people I enjoy as friends," I say, "But you're the only person who speaks to my heart. The version of you here, I mean. For some reason, I have no interest at all in the Fódlan version of you."

"Your words are cheap. You might even believe them at this moment. But there are better people for you than me."

"Is this why you wanted to say goodbye?" I ask. "So that you could convince yourself that everyone else is better off without you?"

"Well, they are, but that's not the point."

"It sure as hell is."

His eye widens for a moment. "Oh."

"What?"

"I'm not planning on taking my life, Claude."

He's… not?

"I might be a pathetic excuse for a human being," Dimitri says, "But I'm not suicidal. Yet, anyway. I wanted to say goodbye because I can tell the police are about to catch up to me soon."

"Are they still chasing after you because of what happened five years ago?"

He averts his gaze. "No, I was considered a victim in that case. They were looking to arrest you, though, so it was good that you disappeared when you did. But a lot has happened since then."

From his tone, I decide not to push it. I can fill in most of the blanks on my own anyway. Dimitri's a cornered animal who can't ever escape back to that place of security.

"I can ask Robin and Lucina to help," I say. "You've met Robin, and Lucina is like a sister to me. I'm sure we can come up with something."

"Get dragged into this and you'll suffer alongside me," Dimitri says. "I'm not going to stop you from throwing your life away, but you're an idiot if you do."

Like that's going to stop me. But…

"Are the police intent on killing you?" I say.

"That's not what they say, but I'm guessing that's how it will end up. Apparently I'm too dangerous to be taken alive. They're not even wrong about that."

If something's threatening Dimitri's life here, I know what it means. I take a deep breath.

"There is something I can do to help," I say, "That doesn't require me to take on the police."

And if Dimitri's caused a tenth of the damage here as he has in Fódlan, the police are actually justified in trying to stop him from causing any more harm. I'm not sure I want to get into these moral dilemmas of having to fight cops that aren't the corrupt cronies Thales sent after me.

"If there's a threat to you here," I say, "It means something is going on in Fódlan. If I take care of that situation, you should be safe."

Though I'm not sure what I can do in Fódlan right now. Byleth promised to keep my former classmates safe, and if they go back on their word I know I won't be able to hold them accountable. Fódlan's future is out of my hands.

But I have to try. I couldn't live with myself if I don't.

"Again," Dimitri says. "I can't stop you, but realize that you're risking your life for nothing."

"I value your life as much as my own. And I _will _protect you, Dimitri. I love you."

Dimitri flinches. "You're saying that to make me feel better."

"And because it's true. If we both make it through this, I want us to have another chance. Start a real relationship."

He frowns. "If we're aromantic, doesn't that mean…?"

"Aro people can still be in long-term relationships. Like best friends forever soulmates, but we're also attracted to each other."

Dimitri shrugs. "For now, my fate is out of my hands. If it's in yours or the cops'… Well, I'm not foolish enough to hope. But-" he coughs into a fist. "I still love you too. My life would be easier if I didn't, if I could face death with nothing tethering me to this world. But those feelings won't go away."

Now I don't have a choice. I need to win for both of us.

"The next time I see you," I say, "We'll both be safe. Then we can start again from the beginning."

He meets my gaze. "There are some parts of the past we can't color over."

"Then we'll work through those parts together. I hear so much talk about this country giving people second chances, but we didn't even get our first. Once we're in control of our destinies, we can work through everything together. Even if it hurts."

A long pause. Did I say something wrong? Despite everything I've been through, love is one area I have no experience in.

"You really do care, don't you?" Dimitri says.

"I do. I'll see you soon, okay?"

A nod. "Goodbye for now."

The goodbye still worries me, but Dimitri was casual enough about saying he wasn't planning to take his own life that I believe him. He shuts off the video chat, and I slump back into my chair.

Back to Fódlan for me. Byleth, here I come.

* * *

**Hey, everyone. :) I know I've been MIA for a little, but I have been working on this fic. Grad school has a habit of eating up my time (yes, I will keep using that excuse until I finish the fic).**

**Most of this chapter surprised me because I only realized when I sat down to write it that Claude doesn't know what happened to Byleth in the interludes. It was interesting for me to explore how he sees Byleth, and how he hates them not for who they are but for the power they wield and how that affects everyone around them.**

**And once again this dumb site ruined my texting format so I centered all of Claude's lines. I know they look weird but if this site doesn't have the basic functionality to right-align text then I'm going to protest by not manually spacing everything out.**

**Review Reponse: **Dictator Mags: We'll see! :) I definitely have ideas for them but even I'm not sure at this point how it's all going to come together.


	36. Chapter 27: The Silver Maiden

After another round of goodbyes to Robin, Lucina, and Morgan, I go back to the woods and channel the power of my Falchion pendant. The world fades to white around me, and I reappear in Fhirdiad.

The square where I phase into existence is devastated by what looks like a crater in the middle. Different from the nuclear weapons in our world, but at least the blast radius doesn't look like it was any larger. As I look around, I realize there are a number of people here, and many of them are staring at me. Their eyes are milky and if their gaze didn't follow me when I moved I would think they were staring off into the distance. I suppose in a world with teleportation magic, some person appearing right in front of them isn't the strangest occurrence. I want to help these people, but there's nothing I can do for them right now.

I walk around town, and the first surprise I find is a lack of Imperial soldiers. With the Imperial army right outside the gates, there's no question that Edelgard could have taken Fhirdiad if she wanted to. That left only one explanation.

This city was crushed to the point that Edelgard didn't see the point in occupying it.

Which is awkward for me, because I need to talk to Byleth about the dangers Dimitri is about to encounter. If the Imperials aren't here, Sylvain and Ingrid want me dead, and Felix didn't make it through the battle, that leaves two options for information. Ashe and Annette. I bet I'll have better luck tracking down a professor in her office than a soldier in his barracks. Besides, didn't Ashe betray his lord to protect the city? He might have fled.

As I make my way over to the school of sorcery, I hear a familiar swooping sound. I look up to see Omar circling overhead. He lets out a cry of affection and descends, landing in the street next to me. He nudges me with his snout, and I throw my arms around his neck.

"Hey buddy," I say. "I'm so glad you're okay. This is the last time I leave you in the middle of a battle. Promise."

He gives me a lower-pitched rumble that lets me know he's hungry. Poor thing. I root around in the pack strapped onto his saddle and pull out some dried meat to feed him.

"You must be hating this climate," I say. "Not good for ectotherms here."

Though wyverns are big enough that they can preserve enough body heat to avoid shutting down during extended periods of cold, unlike smaller lizards. Still, I don't want to put any more strain on his wings, so I have us walk the rest of the way there. Nobody seems to care that I'm being followed by a wyvern, which I suppose is one plus of the hopeless apathy in the air.

I enter the front courtyard of the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery and see a trio of familiar faces. Annette, Catherine, and… Rhea? Okay, the Empire must have dropped the ball if they didn't manage to capture or kill her. It's not like Byleth to be so sloppy. At least the archbishop isn't actively setting fire to anything.

The three of them turn to look at me right when they come into my view. Catherine narrows her eyes and draws a blade.

"Who is this, Catherine?" Rhea says.

I raise an eyebrow. Though if Rhea did forget who I am, I won't complain.

"Claude von Riegan," Catherine says. "Former leader of the Leicester Alliance we talked about, before the Empire conquered it."

"I didn't expect you to be so young," Rhea says. "My name is-"

"He knows you," Catherine says.

"Ah. A pleasure to meet you again, Claude." Her gaze narrows at me. "What are those weapons you have on your back?"

"The relics?" I say. "I don't want to show them off since they're fragile for weapons, but the bow is called Failnaught and the blade is called Thunderbrand."

I see Catherine's face twist like she tasted a lime when I mention Thunderbrand. I force down a laugh.

"You call them… relics." Rhea smooths out her dress. "Catherine, can you explain to me what's going on here?"

"What's wrong, Lady Rhea?" Annette says. "It was the church that protects and regulates the relics. They're gifts from the goddess."

Rhea shivers. "Gifts? That's one way to put it, I suppose."

"How would you put it then?" I say.

She cocks her head at me. "You mean you don't know what those weapons and stones are?"

Stones. She must mean the crest stones, which power the relics. I remember back to when Byleth fought Miklan, who turned into a demonic beast after using the Lance of Ruin. The church tried to downplay the connection between the crest stones and the demonic beasts, but we should have investigated more.

"Like Annette said," Catherine replies. "It was the church that held them up as blessings from Sothis."

Rhea turns away. "That can't be right. Unless this church you mention is a mire so dark and corrupt that light can't penetrate through."

Well, she's not wrong about that. I bite my tongue to keep from saying it out loud, since I'm not looking for another fight with Catherine.

"Why don't you tell us what these relics are, then?" I say.

"The body of the weapon or the stones?"

"Both."

"The weapons are made out of bones of Nabateans like me," Rhea says, "And the stones are our hearts."

Well then. I unsling Failnaught to examine it. The body of the bow does look rather bone-like, but I don't see where the crest stone being the heart comes from. Though there were a bunch of crest stones in the Holy Tomb, which makes sense if they are part of someone's body. Did the church keep that truth hidden for the entire 900 years since Saint Seiros defeated Nemesis?

"Uh…" Annette looks between me and Catherine. "What's a Nabatean?"

"A child of the goddess," Rhea says.

"I'm sorry, but that doesn't clear anything up."

"People who can turn into dragons and stuff," I say.

Rhea nods. "We all have different forms, though."

"Seteth and Flayn are also Nabateans, aren't they?" I say.

Rhea frowns, turning to Catherine. "These are other people I should know?"

"They were at the monastery I was talking about," Catherine says. "Brother and sister."

"Seteth said that Flayn has special blood," I add. "And he seemed to know you far back in a way that nobody else did. Oh, and Seteth is the only person in recorded history with the major crest of Cichol and Flayn is the only person with the crest of Ceathleann."

"So Cichol and Ceathleann didn't have any kids besides those two?" Rhea cocks her head. "Well, any more kids, since Cethleann is Cichol's daughter."

"Hey, I appreciate how we're all catching Lady Rhea up to speed," Annette says, "But we are discussing an urgent matter here."

"Oh, that's right," Catherine says. "You said you know where Dimitri is?"

All right. Now they have my attention.

"He told the rest of us in our former cohort at Garreg Mach that he was going to Arianrhod to fight Cornelia," Annette says.

Fight? More like tear her head off her shoulders. Though from what I've heard, the woman deserves it for exploiting the people of Faerghus.

"Ingrid gathered up the remaining loyal Faerghus soldiers and chased after," Annette says. "Sylvain and Ashe are leading the charge with her."

"Ashe…" Catherine says, running a hand through her hair. "I'm willing to lend my blade if Lady Rhea approves. I feel bad for the kid."

"I think that's the kicker," I say. "If we can get the Knights of Seiros on our side, we might stand a chance. Though…"

Annette motions me to continue.

"Have any of you been to Arianrhod?" I say. "I get the impression it won't be easy to take with a head-on assault."

"Fortresses get nicknames for a reason," Catherine says, "And the Silver Maiden is one of Faerghus' finest. House Rowe who controls the city is also loyal to Cornelia, so there's no chance of flipping the soldiers there."

"In that case, I'm wondering how much an army will even help us," I say. "The four of us can get inside the fort on flying mounts and cause some havoc. Plus, we'll be able to make it there in a fraction of the time if we're on our own. Annette, when did Dimitri leave to attack Arianrhod?"

"It was soon after the fight for Fhirdiad."

"So we don't have much time then. I say we get going now if we want to make it there in time."

"I'm not sure I understand the situation here," Rhea says, "And I don't want to get people killed off a false assessment."

Oh, so _now _she cares about preserving other people's lives. Better late than never, though this also threatens my plan. Without a dragon to rain energy blasts down from the sky, we're basically dead in the water.

"Cornelia is part of a group called Those Who Slither in the Dark," I say. "In addition to blowing up this city, they kidnapped Flayn and were after her blood. Oh, and they tried to steal Sothis' body from the Holy Tomb."

And now that I think about it, if the Sword of the Creator is made from the bones of Sothis then it makes more sense why it was in her tomb. So when the blade turns into whip form, are all the blade links different bones in her spine? I'm not sure I want to think about that. No wonder it makes Rhea uncomfortable to see. Why did she put up with the relics while she was Archbishop if she knew what they were?

I guess that's a gimme. Regulating the relics gave the church power. Gotta get nobles to pay their taxes somehow, I suppose.

"So these people are a threat to Nabateans like me." Rhea glances over at Catherine. "Is this true?"

"They're a nasty bunch," Catherine says, "And while you were in charge of the church, your main goal was to get rid of them."

"Though from what you've said about me as archbishop, I don't know how much confidence I should be taking from that," Rhea says.

Catherine falters, and I bite back a smile. The one person who Catherine can't correct for insulting Rhea is Rhea herself.

"You did some questionable things," I say, "But fighting Those Who Slither in the Dark was not one of them."

Catherine glares at me, but doesn't say anything.

"I also agree that we should take out Cornelia," Annette says. "She's been draining the people of Faerghus dry. My mom lost her job, and if I weren't a professor at the School of Sorcery then we would have starved like those people on the streets."

"I suppose that is the consensus, then." Rhea turns to me. "If the Knights of Seiros, Kingdom, and Alliance are united against this threat, I will participate in the fight."

"Great," I say. "Hey Catherine, how many people do you think recognize Rhea on sight?"

"That's Lady Rhea to you," Catherine says. "And without the archbishop attire? Nobody here has given us a second glance. No commoners have a reason to know what she looks like."

"Perfect," I say. "Rhea, we're going to need you to get an alter ego. Archbishop Rhea burned down Fhirdiad a few days ago, so it's best for you to not be that person. Catch my drift?"

"Catherine." Rhea casts a sidelong glance at her. "You didn't tell me that."

"I, uh…"

"And considering the damage here, it looks like people actually listened to me when I told them to torch the city," Rhea says. "Were civilians evacuated first, at least?"

I exchange a glance with Annette, and then look back at Rhea. She lets out a sigh.

"About what I expected, given how this conversation was going. Are you going to do something about me after this is all over?"

That's a good question. There's no question that Rhea is too dangerous to be allowed to roam free, but I'm not sure if this person is enough of her to be the same threat. Justice dictates that we should lock her up for her crimes, but sometimes that's a luxury we can't afford. If we can use Rhea to transition Fódlan into a more peaceful age, it could save thousands of lives.

"Let's figure this out after Dimitri and the others are safe," I say. "If they die, the people of the Kingdom could take to the streets and usher in more violence. I can try to convince Byleth and Edelgard to let him keep his title as a vassal state of the Empire."

"I'm not sure he's in a position to do much ruling," Catherine says.

"We can always choose to kill him later if he becomes too difficult for us," I say. "Besides, he's more likely to support what's left of the church than any puppet ruler Edelgard puts up in Faerghus."

I'm not planning on letting Dimitri die under any circumstances, but Catherine doesn't need to know that. Because I know I'm making sense with trying to use Dimitri to smooth over the transition of power. If he's mellowed out back on Earth, he has a chance here.

I wonder if people set up political systems to be so fragile on purpose. Without a king, the people of Faerghus will resist the Empire, which means Edelgard can't depose the king unless she wants more trouble on her hands. Is that a result of a centuries-long ploy from Faerghus' rulers to make the Kingdom reliant on them so that they can remain in power? Either way, I'll use that system if I must.

"You said you need an alter ego for me," Rhea says. "I have heard legends about this Saint Seiros of yours. Is she known to be a Nabatean?"

"She doesn't turn into a dragon in the legends, if that's what you're asking," Annette says.

"Right," I say. "In church canon, the Immaculate One is a separate creature."

"In that case," Rhea says, "We can try to break the association between the Immaculate One and archbishop Rhea. We can say that Rhea summoned the creature, who decided to kill her for burning down Fhirdiad."

"But if we throw Rhea under the bus," I say, "Some devout followers will get angry. Isn't that right, Catherine?"

"Under the… bus?" she frowns at me. "But yes, that's right."

"You need a new religion if people are getting up in arms about the death of someone who torched their own city," Rhea says.

I fight down a smile as Catherine stiffens.

"And for my personal identity," Rhea says, "I will be the second coming of Saint Seiros. I have memories from a time long ago where I am that person, and they seem to match up well enough with historical records. Delusion or no, I can play that role."

Now _that _is a spicy prospect. Bring new life to the church by having Saint Seiros appear to us again and ward off evil. With that, we already have the makings of a ragtag resistance narrative. Too bad we stand no chance of actually resisting and keeping our people free from the Empire's grasp so long as Byleth stands at the helm of Edelgard's army.

"We can use that to represent both sides of the goddess as well," I say. "Saint Seiros is here to rally community and support the needy, even as a warrior. The Immaculate One can act as the vengeance of the goddess against those who have wronged her."

Healing and destruction. Forgiveness and punishment. From what I know about the Abrahamic religions, both sides of that coin are part of their god's righteousness. God is great, and god is terrible in his deliverance of justice. Seems like a good way to keep people in line without fostering too much resentment.

Damn, right when I'm getting the hang of this political mess, the Alliance and the Kingdom are already swallowed by the Empire's greedy maw.

"Let's head off to Arianrhod," I say. "We can finalize plans of our narrative later. Sound good to you, Seiros?"

She nods. "I do prefer that name. Let us deal with the ones who want my people dead."

"It's a decent march to Arianrhod," Catherine says. "By the time we get there, the fight might be over."

"That's why we need to take a shortcut," I say. "Seiros, how good is your overland flight in dragon form?"

Catherine narrows her eyes. "You better not be planning what I think you are."

"What, you afraid of heights?"

Catherine sighs. "It is disrespectful to Lady Rh-Seiros to use her as a glorified wyvern."

"I can't promise anything, since my memories are from eons ago," Seiros says, "But back then I could travel across continents on my wings. And a couple bodies on top won't slow me down much."

"Great. You take Annette and Catherine. You know where Arianrhod is, right? I can fly ahead on Omar and scout the situation."

"We can direct her," Annette says. "But, uh, are you sure that we should be riding a dragon into battle?"

"If you unlocked teleportation like Hubert, now's the time to let us know. Otherwise, it's dragon or I need to hear a better idea."

Annette exhales and nods. "So long as you're okay with the arrangement, Lady Seiros."

"I'm not planning to go into battle alone without any clue of what's going on," Seiros says. "I am happy to transport you to the battlefield so that you can assist."

"Is this payback for our last encounter?" Catherine says.

"No, my payback for that is keeping Thunderbrand until I trust you again."

"I was afraid you were going to do that." She crosses her arms. "You're being stupid, but we've already wasted enough time talking. And I don't need a fancy relic to cut through enemies."

"Glad to hear it," I say. "Hopefully we have time to reconvene before charging straight into Arianrhod, but if not… don't die out there."

"To die, I have to get beaten," Catherine says. "Not planning on letting that happen."

I think back to our last encounter, where Ashe, Annette, and I got the better of her. At least she doesn't seem to bear any ill will towards Annette for it.

"I'll be sure to make it back," Annette says. "After all, if I die then my mom doesn't have anyone left."

"And I need answers about everything that's happened in the past thousand years," Seiros says. "I won't jeopardize any of our lives unless I need to."

I nod. Good enough for me, since they're putting more heart into their declarations about staying safe than Leonie's begrudging agreement to surrender if she found herself outmatched. Because we know how that one turned out.

Marianne, Raphael, Judith, Mercedes, Leonie, Petra, Felix. I'm not going to lose another one of my friends.

I whistle to call for Omar and have him soar up into the sky after hopping on his saddle. As he does, I give him scratches behind where I'm pretty sure his ear is. I'm sure the others can figure out transport on their own if I was able to get on top of Rhea without her cooperation. Thank goodness she doesn't remember that.

I survey Fhirdiad from above. The city is no longer smoldering, and it now looks like people are living in ancient ruins. Even from up here, everyone looks cold. I'm not sure why they put the capital of Faerghus so far north, but maybe we can improve matters once Dimitri is back and we can transition into a stable government. I wonder how Byleth feels about a constitutional monarchy after seeing democracy in action on Earth. Well, after seeing America's weird half-democracy half-states'-rule system, anyway.

As I look out, I see another wyvern rider flying above the city. I unsling Failnaught but don't nock an arrow yet as I approach them. When I get closer, I make out long, pink hair. When the rider turns their wyvern around to face me, my suspicions are confirmed.

"Claude," Hilda says. "How in the world are you alive?"

"Long story." The wind whips past me, ruffling my outfit. "Want to talk on the ground where it's less noisy?"

Hilda nods, and we descend to an empty spot of town shielded beneath the outer walls. She hops off her wyvern and roots around in the pack on the creature's saddle, pulling out a miniature pastry and popping it into her mouth.

"I think those are supposed to be for wyvern food," I say.

"Shush." Hilda finishes chewing. "You are impossible to find, you know that? And of all the people sent to contact you, they decide to force this grueling task on poor little me. Can you believe it?"

"I'm guessing they wanted you to stop complaining about whatever's going on in Derdriu or Fódlan's Locket, and made you my problem instead."

Hilda puts her hands on her hips. "Rude. And to think I came all this way to see you." Her eyes search my outfit and face. "You don't look too bad for supposedly having died during the explosion over Fhirdiad."

"This world can't get rid of me that easily," I say.

"How _did _you survive? And at Gronder, too. The Daphnel intelligence was that you disappeared from the battlefield and had most likely been taken captive or killed by the Imperials."

"The first one at Gronder was Byleth sparing me," I say. "Sending me into an exile of sorts."

"Which it looks like you're graciously honoring."

"And at Fhirdiad I had lucky timing about when to take cover."

"Ugh, relying on luck to keep you alive. I hope this war is over soon so I can go back to sampling pastries at my convenience."

I fail to fight down a smirk. "I'm sure House Goneril needs you to be their main advisor and policy expert. As much as I love your brother, he doesn't have a brain for that kind of thing."

Hilda lets out a sigh, her breath condensing into fog in the cool air.

"So why are you here?" I say. "I'm flattered that I still mean so much to you, but I get the feeling that isn't the whole story here."

"You're right. I have to be involved with-" she wrinkles her nose like a child. "Politics."

"If I was forced to be the leader of the Alliance with no prior experience for five years, I'm sure you can handle whatever Holst wants you to do." A pause. "This is from your brother, right?"

"Well, him and house Gloucester."

Gloucester? They should be the least likely ones to side with house Goneril, unless Holst was the one who changed sides and is now supporting the Empire. They wouldn't send Hilda to kill me, right?

"Oh, no need to get so paranoid," Hilda says. "It's not that bad. Besides, the Daphnel bureaucrats and generals can keep them in check if possible. Your House Riegan lands were carved up between House Ordelia and a minor noble named Acheron, and the Daphnel spies are keeping an eye on them."

Looks like I missed some updates while I was away from the Alliance. I'm almost glad I did, since managing the clucking chickens of the Alliance round table is a job for an entire task force. But I do remember Acheron as one of the nobles near Gloucester territory we feared defecting to the Empire. Strange that Edelgard would give a minor noble like him such a sizable chunk of territory. And no offense to Lysithea's parents, but they don't have the best track record at managing large swaths of land.

"What happened to taking down the nobility?" I say.

"That's what Edelgard is trying. None of us are lords anymore, and we're instead governors who have to manage a set of territory. So we govern the land instead of owning it, though we can still levy taxes so I'm not sure what the differences is. Oh, Hubert did make it clear that we could get replaced if we do not meet the Empire's expectations."

So the emo boy in the shadows has his hand in this matter as well. I'm guessing that means that there's been underhanded bribes and threats. In fact, I'm surprised there's been no-

"In potentially related news," Hilda says, "Count Gloucester has fallen mysteriously ill, and white magic has only been able to slow the symptoms worsening."

And there it is. I'm glad my message about Gloucester being an ambitious piece of shit got through to Hubert, which means I have one fewer problem on my hands if I ever venture back to the Alliance. It's clear that the Empire is trying to weaken House Gloucester, which means that Edelgard sees them as a threat. Not only Count Gloucester, but Lorenz too. Perhaps I should reestablish communications with him once this whole situation quiets down, especially since he's about to become an Alliance round table member.

"Well, I don't know how much we can resist Edelgard's imperialism so long as Byleth is in the picture," I say. "I want to say that I'm surprised how Edelgard's new meritocracy means putting up puppet rulers who are less likely to be a threat to her, but I'm not."

"But that's the thing," Hilda says. "Our dear professor has vanished."

I meet her gaze. Do I dare hope that Byleth's godlike dominion of Fódlan is over? That we're free to carve our own paths and choose our own fates?

"That's what the Daphnel spies say," Hilda continues. "Byleth's body went missing, and they suspect people in plague doctor outfits."

Those Who Slither in the Dark. Whatever they have planned for Byleth, it can't be good news. Is it too much to hope that they killed her instead of using her for some sort of twisted experiment?

"Byleth had the Sword of the Creator on them," I say. "And they could use it without the crest stone."

The Crest of Flames came from the goddess herself, right? Which means the crest stone is Sothis' heart and the Sword of the Creator is made out of Sothis' bones. And if Byleth can activate the Sword of the Creator, and also has Sothis in their mind, then…

"They have Sothis' heart transplanted inside of them," I say. "That has to be it."

Hilda blinks. "Claude, what are you talking about?"

"We need to track down the people who took Byleth. It's more important now than ever. But right now, I'm headed off to Airianrhod to save Dimitri so we can institute some level of Faerghus government."

"More fighting." Hilda groans.

"Nobody's making you join me, you know."

"My brother is. I'm supposed to tag along with you so that we can say we supported you if you decide to come back and reclaim your land in the Alliance. And if you don't, he can say that I was running off to support you because we're best buddies and all that, so it doesn't make him look bad."

"That's a rather devious plan for Holst."

"Daphnel spies came up with it."

"They can really do it all, huh?"

"Except leave a girl in peace to eat pastries. Is that so much to ask for?"

I snort. "Dimitri has a head start on us, so we need to push our poor wyverns harder than I want to if we're going to catch up. Follow me."

"Wait, you're not taking an army with you?"

"We have a dragon on our side now. Let's scout the situation before she gets there."

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"Like I said, I'm not making you do this. Follow if you want to."

I hop back onto Omar and have him fly into the sky. Below me, I hear sounds of wings flapping and Hilda flies up next to me atop her wyvern a few seconds later. She has her arms crossed instead of on the reins and is giving me a sidelong glare, but I know that will drop within a few minutes.

I can worry about Alliance and church politics later. For now, it's time to rescue the fantasy version of the boy I love.

#

We make good time on our flight to Arianrhod. There are a couple storms we need to navigate around, but for Faerghus weather the skies are quite merciful overall. Hilda complains about being cold the entire way through, and I look at the boob window in her outfit and raise an eyebrow in response. If that's what gets her killed, I'm going to laugh.

As the snowy haze clears, the sparkling fortress of Arianrhod comes into view. Besides the glimmering silvery walls, the main detail I notice is how the main gates are open. And considering their lack of damage, I don't think Dimitri busted his way through here on a rampage. I have Omar glide above the fortress walls and arrows start to fly. Between my direction and his instincts, we're able to swerve out of the way, but we won't be able to look for long.

Luckily, I get enough of a view of the battlefield from a quick glance. Dimitri and his army are advancing further into the fortress, having to cross over spike traps that have dead bodies of Blaiddyd and Rowe soldiers alike. Giant mechs stand at the ready, carrying massive blades that extend from their arms. Cornelia sits at the back of the fortress atop a seat, and next to her is a man in chains on his knees. It takes me a moment to recognize him.

Dedue. I assumed he died in the war, since he wasn't standing at his liege's side throughout the battles. How long had Cornelia been keeping him captive?

I swerve back out and dive outside the fortress walls so that the archers lose their line of sight on me. Thank goodness we didn't arrive too late. I whistle to Hilda and point at the main gates, having Omar swoop through a few seconds later. Taking cover behind the twisting walls of the fortress, I'm able to fire on the archers and take out most of them. Not sure why they're standing in the main body of the stronghold instead of on the walls bombarding us from above, but I'm not complaining.

The spike traps are easy to fly over, and before long Hilda and I rejoin with the royal army. Dimitri looks up at me as I approach and narrows his eye.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were dead."

"People never have any faith in my ability to keep on trucking," I say.

"Trucking?" Dimitri looks out at the enemy House Rowe forces. "If you're going to be here, best make yourself useful. Deactivate the spike traps. There are levers around here that should do the trick."

"It looks like the spike traps are slowing both of our forces down, which is good since we're outnumbered so they stop us from getting overwhelmed." I glance over at spikes popping out of metal grates in the ground behind us. "They go off on a regular interval, so cross them right when the spikes go down."

Dimitri grunts. "You came here to boss me around like a toddler?"

"If that's what saves your life, so be it."

"I should crush you right here, Claude. But right now, I have bigger fish to fry."

Well, not the most courteous response to my assistance, but if he follows my directions and keeps his army alive then he can hate me however much he wants.

While Dimitri's army is slowed down by advancing through the spikes, I fly ahead and motion Hilda to follow. Ashe and Sylvain are on the front lines holding the line against the larger Rowe force, and we provide support in the skirmish. Hilda swoops through hordes of enemies and takes out multiple with each swing of her relic axe Freikugel. She emerges from the group with her lips thinned like a Karen type demanding to speak with the manager and wipes the sweat off her brow with disgust.

Seeing her carve a path through enemies almost makes me think I was justified to fall in love with the Earth version of her in middle school. Almost.

Between Hilda's strafing swoops and my onslaught of arrows, Cornelia's soldiers pull back soon after we arrive. Sylvain greets us with a nod and a forced smirk.

"Thanks for the help," he says, "And it's always nice to see a pretty lady on the battlefield. We need to end this war quickly so that beautiful women like you don't need to risk their lives."

"Oh, do you really think that?" Hilda says. "I'm so delicate that maybe I should stay back and-"

"None of that nonsense," I say. "We all saw what you did thirty seconds ago. Ashe, back me up here."

Ashe's cheeks light up red. I'm sure the poor guy didn't expect to get dragged into these conversations when he was preparing himself to charge a fortress.

"You both are strong warriors," he says, "And I will appreciate your continued assistance if that's all right with you."

"Of course it's all right," I say. "That's why we came all this way, after all. Let's push the line to the next spike trap."

I have Hilda lead, though Sylvain is happy to charge in and out by her side as she swoops at a group of enemies and then soars up into the air before they can counterattack effectively. Ashe and I provide more cover fire and we push them back to the next spike trap. I have Ashe and Sylvain set up at the edge of the spikes and wait.

"If you keep them engaged here, they'll have to charge at you through the spikes," I say, "And they'll have to fight on the grates, which means they can't avoid the spikes popping up if you can keep them there for long enough. Only advance if you're ready to push to the next spike trap."

"What makes you think of these strategies?" Ashe says. "Did you know Cornelia had fortified Arianrhod like this?"

"When you lead an army, you have to come up with stuff on the fly," I say. "No pun intended. Hilda and I are going to scout ahead and see what those mechs are made of."

"Mechs?" Hilda says. "Please say you don't mean those massive constructs with the big swords. Those look like a pain to take down."

"Yep," I say. "Get your complaints out now so you have all the oxygen you need when you fight them."

The din of battle masks the sound, but I can see Hilda sighing by the way her chest heaves. I fly off across the spikes and up to get a better view of the battlefield, and sure enough Hilda follows behind.

"You know," I say, "I realized that this is our first time fighting side by side since that day five and a half years ago when Edelgard attacked Garreg Mach."

"Which is a good thing," Hilda says. "Nobody else makes me work this hard."

"It's because I see the potential in you, Hilda."

"Potential to hold cute little hamsters in my hand and feed them tiny treats, maybe."

"Is that what keeps you motivated to stay alive on the battlefield?"

"That's none of your business. Where are we going, Mr. Alliance Leader?"

Always catches me off guard when people refer to me with the male title, but I guess I'm not exactly out as nonbinary with anyone here. That can come after we're not in mortal danger. I soar around the fortress and identify one of the mechs that looks relatively isolated from the other soldiers.

"Let's engage it carefully," I say. "I'll try to fire from range. Use your alert stance instead of attacking."

All fliers are trained in a technique called an alert stance that readies them and their wyvern for motion instead of attacking. It's something that they should teach to other warriors too, in my opinion. Being able to go on the defensive and wait for my opponent to make the first move before responding helps me to maintain awareness of the battlefield and ends up keeping me safer.

I try to get in range to shoot, but the mech's blade is large enough that it's hard to get a good shot off the back of a moving wyvern without flying into counterattack range. I end up firing off a curved shot, which creates a chink in the mech's metal armor when it hits. Not sure arrows should be so effective against a full steel construct, but I'm not complaining.

Hilda adopts an alert stance and dodges out of the way of the mech's massive blade, swooping over and under the strikes. I get in closer and fire two arrows at the weak spot I created, which punches a hole in its armor. The mech turns its attention to me, and I manage to duck under its slash as Omar tucks in his wings and dives. I pull out Thunderbrand as he gets close and unleash a flurry of attacks at the mech through the hole in its armor. I'll never get used to how smooth this blade feels to swing, even though I have mixed feelings about relics now that I know they're bones of people from an age long gone.

After I'm through, Hilda swoops in and takes some attacks. After her first attack sends the mech staggering, it whirls around with a fast arc in its blade, taking Hilda in the shoulder. She winces through the pain and slams her axe into the mech right at the weak point. A critical hit.

She flies out and fumbles through the pouches on her wyvern saddle, pulling out a healing concoction. It's good to see that she at least has something in there other than stale baked goods.

I turn my attention to the mech. The thing looks like it's ready to collapse, but it readies up another attack. I take a deep breath and ready an arrow. Drawing upon the strength of the crest in my blood, I unleash a Fallen Star arrow, which leaves wisps of darkness as it soars through the air and slams into the mech's body.

The next second, I hear a round of internal explosions and the mech collapses to the ground.

"Let's never do that again," Hilda says.

"Hey, you did great."

She groans. "I don't want to do great, Claude. If I'm great, next time you'll make me fight one of those on my own."

I tune her out and look over at the oncoming army. There are entire swaths of soldiers, and more mechs to boot. I'm confident we can hold them at the spike traps, but if Cornelia's smart she'll turn them off after realizing that we've been using them to our advantage. And at that point, we'll be overrun and routed.

"All right, Hilda," I say. "It's your lucky day. We need to-"

I'm interrupted by a blast of energy from the sky that shakes the ground. I shield my eyes from it and look up to see one of the mechs smoking and wrecked on the ground. The soldiers look up at the sky and stumble back in fear.

I follow their gaze to see the Immaculate One soaring through the sky, casting a shadow on the fortress below. She circles while descending and eventually lands close to me and Hilda. A group of soldiers hesitate, and then charge us. Annette fires an Excalibur attack that sends them reeling and flying back, and they don't pursue further.

Catherine and Annette hop off the Immaculate One's back, facing down the remaining army. Catherine charges in before I can say a word to her, the Chinese-style Wo Dao blade flicking back and forth with quick wrist strokes as she dispatches entire hordes of soldiers in a few seconds. She's like an angel of death ripping through an entire legion on her own.

"Let's give them support, Hilda," I say. "How are you feeling?"

"I'd rather be eating cake."

"Which means you're doing great, if you still have the energy to complain. Let's go."

The Immaculate One reverts back to human form. Seiros draws a blade and takes a deep breath.

"Dragon form wore you out?" I say.

"Being a dragon itself doesn't, but flying halfway across the kingdom means I'm better off using my limited energy in this form. I'll follow your lead, Claude."

Well, shit. It's not every day that I get to command a fantasy pope in battle. Right now our job is to support Catherine so that her carving through an army isn't a one-way trip. I flick the reins to have Omar accelerate, and fire a flurry of arrows at the soldiers in the front. Annette blasts away with wind magic, and Hilda swoops in wielding a regular iron axe while her fragile relic weapon is strapped to her back.

"Hilda," I say. "Use alert stance to draw them in and the rest of us can deal with them. Seiros, do you have ranged healing magic?"

Seiros shakes her head. "I don't mind getting into melee to heal, though."

"Okay. Seiros, focus on keeping Hilda—pink haired girl on the wyvern—healthy and make attacks when you can. Annette, try to blast the area with the most soldiers. If we can get the ones in the back to retreat, we can cut a path to help Catherine. I'll take out the ones Hilda lures in."

The plan works better than it has any right to. Hilda swerves around most of the attacks, only counterattacking when an enemy overextends. Seiros weaves in and out of battle, healing Hilda and lunging with her sword when she sees an opening. I never saw Archbishop Rhea practice swordplay when I was at Garreg Mach, but Seiros' swift strokes and precise aim remind me of Byleth. Annette creates hurricanes and explosions of wind energy in areas where enemy soldiers think they're safe, which causes them to hesitate and fall back. And my aim is on point today, so I have little problem taking out the soldiers charging Hilda.

Is this what it's like to fight someone other than Byleth? With how smoothly this is going, I could convince myself that I'm half decent at this whole tactics thing.

Eventually we cut a path to Catherine, who's bleeding from a dozen spots on her body and engaged with the last mech alone. Rhea sweeps through a group of enemies with her sword and runs up to Catherine. A white glow surrounds her hands, and the wounds on Catherine's body disappear.

"Lady Rhea…" Catherine smiles. "No time to reminisce about old memories, I suppose. Let's take this hunk of metal down."

An idea comes to mind. Am I going to regret this? Right now, I don't have the luxury of being able to mistrust.

"Catherine," I say. "Catch."

I toss Thunderbrand through the air. The blade soars through the sky, and Catherine leaps up to snatch it out of the air. She grabs onto the handle and gives it a couple of practice swings. The grin that spreads on her face reminds me of a child with a triple-scoop ice cream cone.

"Thanks," she says. "Now let's fuck 'em up."

She abandons all defense and lunges in with a lightning-fast flurry of blows. I tell Hilda to tear open weak spots that Catherine creates, and have Seiros focus on a mix of healing and attacking. The mech's blade is long enough that Annette can't get in range to use her magic without risking the machine whirling around and slicing through her mage's robes, so I have her focus on the army behind us to buy some space. I strafe around and take shots where I can. Thanks to Catherine drawing the mech's attention, I have plenty of opportunities to get in attacks. In what feels like no time at all, we reduce the mech to scrap metal.

I turn around to look at the rest of the army, which is retreating towards the back of the fort where Cornelia is resting on her throne. Further away, I see Dimitri's army approaching, Ashe and Sylvain at his side.

I lead the five of us over to meet the royal army at the base of the steps heading up to the top of the fortress. Sylvain sizes us up and smirks.

"So you've all gotten over your little feud?" he says.

"Gilbert was my friend, but there's no point in holding grudges," Catherine says. "That's the life of the soldier. Plus, Claude gave me Thunderbrand back. So we're cool."

Yeah, we'll see if that was a mistake. I notice that Seiros is staring at the ground. I wonder how much she's put together about what happened in Fhirdiad. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to realize that Gilbert died on her orders. Annette's face is unreadable, so I decide not to make any comments to her.

"Right now, we should focus on the common enemy," I say. "Cornelia is up those steps. She has Dedue hostage."

"Dedue?" Dimitri's voice softens. "He's supposed to be dead. I saw Cornelia take him in."

"Looks like she planned to use him as leverage all along," Catherine says. "You going to be able to stay calm?"

"If I don't," Dimitri says, "Then the problem will resolve itself."

Not exactly the most inspiring of answers, but he has a point. There's no good way out of a hostage situation like this, so Dimitri rampaging and taking out Cornelia isn't the worst outcome even if it seals Dedue's fate. Is there a way to protect Dedue as well? Poor guy deserves to have someone protecting him after all the racism he's been forced to endure as someone from Duscur.

"I don't think we can afford to waste time," Ashe says. Looking up at the sky, "I also wanted to wait for Ingrid, but I don't know where she went off to. Let's end Cornelia's plotting once and for all."

A circle of nods go around. The only person who abstains is Seiros. I hope after this fight she can do the research to get herself up to speed.

Dimitri begins to lead his army up the stairs towards Cornelia. Time to yank out the biggest thorn in the Kingdom's side for the past five years.

* * *

**Hey hey another upload tonight. :) Hope you're all doing well and staying safe. **

Notes:

-Hilda's thing with pastries here is based off her C support with Marianne (I think?) when she vents to Mari about someone saying she didn't look busy when she was in fact quite busy sampling pastries.

-Hilda's a wyvern rider/lord because in my mind, it's a great class for her since she can let the wyvern do all the work (or so she would think when choosing the path, anyway). And because the class is op.

-Again, the Daphnel spies thing is me running with an offhand comment about Judith having a good information network.

-In Crimson Flower, the Arianrhod battle has spikes like in this chapter. And like in this chapter they're really not a big deal, and I found them to be more of a help than a hinderance.

-Catherine charging recklessly into battle and getting healed by Rhea mimics a scene recounted in her C support with Seteth. Catherine often talks about how being healed by Rhea is a moment she holds dear.


	37. Chapter 28: Lady of Deceit

When I reach the top of the stairs after dismounting, Cornelia doesn't move to rise from her seat. She holds the top of Dedue's head in her left hand as he kneels with arms and legs bound. A pair of dark mages stand behind her, at the ready.

"Took you long enough," she says. "I was hoping that the Titanus would slice you to nice little cubical pieces, but maybe Thales is right about me being overeager to mechanize everything. Warfare isn't quite there yet."

Ashe nocks an arrow and dark wisps float off Cornelia's left hand. Dedue grimaces and squirms in pain, while Cornelia's expression doesn't change. Ashe lowers his bow.

"You created this," Dimitri says. "The Kingdom is crumbling around us, and it's your fault."

"Glorious, isn't it?" she says. "It took decades to build up the infrastructure to my recommendations based on Agarthan knowledge. And it only took a couple months to let it all go to ruin. Civilization is so… fragile. One shove and the foundation collapses."

Seiros looks up at Cornelia when she says the word "Agarthan." Cornelia flashes a thin smile at her.

"And look who we have here. The archbishop, joining us in flesh and blood. Well, I won't be defeated like Nemesis. So long as I have leverage, none of you can touch me."

Cornelia smiles down at Dedue, who has his eyes closed. Is he drugged or actively trying not to give Cornelia anything to work with? On a different note, her Nemesis comment implies that she does believe Rhea and Saint Seiros are the same person, since Seiros was the one who killed Nemesis. So Rhea's memories of being Seiros are most likely real. There must be a way to use that for political influence, but right now I need to take care of the woman on the throne in front of me.

"Your hearts are weak and predictable," Cornelia says. "Why don't I raise the stakes?"

One of the dark mages thrusts a hand, and a crest stone from behind the throne floats out, bobbing forward until it's obscured by Dedue's body. Based on the trajectory, it should be right behind his back. Dedue twitches.

"Let me explain," Cornelia says. "I'm sure you realize what horrible, toxic things Nabatean hearts are. Sothis descended on this land and poisoned us with her spawn, and holding them will turn you into a demonic beast. So I researched a way to make that magic more… potent." Cornelia grins. "To turn someone into a demonic beast with a single touch. Turns out it was easier than I expected, and it might even work if you have a crest. So if you don't want your friend here to suffer an unfortunate fate, bow before me."

I look over at Dimitri, who tenses and grips his spear Areadbhar. I see wisps of dark magic floating off from behind Dedue's back where the crest stone is, so she clearly did something to modify it. I'm not sure we can afford to call her bluff about it instantly turning someone into a demonic beast.

"What's your game plan?" I say. "If you're going to the length to letting us into your home and using a hostage against us, surely there's something you want."

"Ah, miracles never cease, little Almyran." She looks at me. "You weren't supposed to live through that explosion, you know. Next time, we'll find a method that doesn't give you time to hop back to your own little world."

It shouldn't surprise me that Cornelia knows about Earth, considering that Thales has been stalking me through two dimensions. I keep that knowledge in the back of my mind. If I ever go back to Earth without dealing with Those Who Slither in the Dark, I'll be endangering my new family.

"Oh, I know," Cornelia says. To Dimitri, "Your Highness. Give me the Riegan child and I will let your friend go."

Hilda steps in front of me, brandishing her axe Freikugel. "Nobody's taking anyone else hostage here."

"Agreed," Seiros says. "It's quite revealing that you want Claude the most, considering that you've been trying to kill me over the past few years. If he's a threat to you, it's best for us to keep him by our side."

"Don't read too much into it," Cornelia says, "Though I'd love to rip those bones out of your body and make a new relic weapon out of them. Our new technology allowed us to make Aymr from scratch, which has the power to bend time itself. Think of what we could do with some fresh alien bones."

Alien? The legends do mention Sothis descending from the skies to rule over Fódlan. Does Cornelia mean alien as in foreigner or are Sothis and the children of the goddess actually from another planet?

"If you're trying to rile me up," Seiros says, "That's all the more reason to stay calm."

Cornelia shrugs, as if it means nothing to her. "So are you going to stand there and wait until someone swoops in to interrupt me? I wonder…" she rests her chin on a hand. "The residue of my magic from the lizard heart might turn your little Ducur friend here into a Demonic Beast even if it doesn't touch him, so long as I keep the stone close. Tick tock, your highness. Tick tock."

Dimitri bares his teeth at her. What can we do to get out of this situation? Cornelia is right that our only hope right now is to hope for someone to save us. But there's nobody left who can descend from the skies and disrupt the scene.

"How about another trade, if the Goneril girl won't let you hand in the Riegan child?" Cornelia says. "Hand yourself in to me, and I'll release Dedue."

"Your highness." Dedue's eyes flash open. "Please, you must not-"

"Quiet." Dimitri lets out a sigh.

She has him. Before he answers, I know it's true. Like those movies or books where everyone around the main character tells them not to turn themselves in, because obviously the villain isn't going to release the person they're holding hostage, but the character surrenders because they're a noble idiot. But in this case, it's not Dimitri's morals that I know will push him to take the leap to save Dedue, even though it's a futile shot.

It's because he values his own life at dirt.

Dimitri hands Areadbhar to Sylvain, who accepts it without looking like he realizes what's going on. The next second, as Dimitri walks towards Cornelia, Sylvain rides up and puts a hand on Dimitri's shoulder.

"You can't," Sylvain says. "You know she's going to-"

"Enough." Dimitri pushes Sylvain's hand away.

I scan everyone else's expressions, looking for a sign. If Ashe and I fire at the same time, then maybe we can take out the mage hovering the cursed crest stone. I doubt it will save Dedue's life, but better him alone than adding Dimitri to that pile.

I'm sorry, Dedue.

Right when I nock my arrow, a pair of spears fall through the sky and slams into the dark mage that's levitating the crest stone, who drops to the ground. Cornelia's eyes flash with anger, and she rises from her seat with dark wisps floating off her fingertips. Dedue leaps back and balls his hands into fists. Cornelia thrusts a hand at the crest stone and it begins levitating again. She's going to throw it at Dedue. I run a split-second analysis and conclude there's no way I can get there in time. And without a shield or a weapon, Dedue has no hope of swatting it away.

Cornelia jerks her hand towards Dedue and the stone goes flying. I gnash my teeth as the crest stone soars towards him. Once again, I'm powerless. Once again, I'll have another person on the list to remind me of who I couldn't save. My gaze is so focused on the stone that I hear the thud of someone landing close to Dedue first, and only when I look over do I see who it is.

Ingrid. Standing in front of the man from Duscur, shielding him with her smaller body.

The stone flies towards her and she swipes at it with her lance. For a moment, my heart stops. Her weapon glances off the crest stone and sends it wobbling, but another thrust from Cornelia sends it straight towards her chest. Dedue tries to pull her out of the way, but she stands steadfast as the stone hits her.

When it does, black tendrils from the crest stone lash out and crawl over her, constraining her body. Ingrid closes her eyes and her posture relaxes, like a sage in a deep meditation.

"Why?" Dedue says. "Why risk yourself for me?"

"Thought my crest might protect me. And if not…" The tendrils engulf her arms and legs. "I wanted to do what I thought was right."

The black swallows Ingrid's face. So this is how people become demonic beasts. And Edelgard used these creatures to attack Garreg Mach after seeing what happened to Miklan? She doesn't get to talk to me about morals ever again.

I see a flash of magic out of the corner of my eye and leap out of the way in time for a blast of dark energy to go flying past me. Cornelia sneers at me and prepares another spell. I take a moment to center myself, ready my aim, and fire off two shots at her. Both take her in the chest. Right in the boob window, actually, even though that's not where I was aiming. Thank goodness her exposed skin is the size of the moon.

The two shots send her reeling back, and she makes precise hand gestures I know means she's about to teleport away. Fuck. I reach into my quiver for another arrow, but I know I'm going to be too late.

Then Seiros barrels into my field of view, grabbing Cornelia's arm to interrupt the hand motions that the spell requires. She tosses away her longsword and pulls out a dagger as she pulls Cornelia close to her.

"I don't remember you," Seiros says, "But if what I'm being told is true, this is for what you did to my people."

I see Cornelia's eyes widen in what can only be fear. Seiros grunts as she rams the dagger into Cornelia's stomach. Once, twice, three times. She's not messing around if she's going straight for the abdominal area. One fact about swordplay that Manuela taught me is that if you stab someone in the chest, the blade can get caught in their ribcage and be difficult to pull out. Better to go for the soft parts instead.

Cornelia crumples and falls to the ground. Seiros slices her throat open for good measure.

I survey the rest of the fight. Hilda and Catherine are off fighting the last dark mage while the Blue Lions are all engaged with the Demonic Beast that was Ingrid less than a minute ago. I expected them to show hesitation, but none of them are softening their swings. Guess that's life when you're a soldier. Dimitri and Annette are fighting without forces to back them up, but Ashe and Sylvain have their battalions with them.

"Ashe. Sylvain. Use your gambits at the same time, on different parts of the beast's body. Three, two, one, go."

In a stroke of luck, they actually listen to me. Ashe calls down a volley of arrows from his battalion, and Sylvain has his legion charge at the Demonic Beast. Together, they break through most of its armor. I fire off a couple shots at the one area still fortified and punch through the creature's defenses, stunning it in place.

Thanks for teaching me about that one, Byleth.

Seiros, Hilda, and Catherine join us as we whale in on the Demonic Beast, and it drops before it can regain its footing. The black tendrils vanish into specks of darkness that flit off into the frigid sky, leaving behind Ingrid. She stumbles forward and falls to her hands and knees. Seiros rushes over and her hands glow with white magic, but it doesn't look like the healing is having any effect. Even though she doesn't look like she should be mortally wounded, I know this happens with other people who were turned into Demonic Beasts. If they're not dead when they return to their human form, they're too far gone.

"Ingrid." I hear a slight shake in Dimitri's voice. "Why did you come to rescue me? Why did you throw yourself in front of Dedue? What happened to only following orders?"

"Fhirdiad… flames…" she manages a weak cough. "After that… needed to make my own choices."

"Stay with me, Ingrid." Dimitri kneels down next to her. "Please."

A smile comes to her face. "Tell Dedue… I'm sorry for how I treated him."

She closes her eyes. When Dimitri forces her eyelids open, her gaze is still and glassy. Dimitri's hands shake as he rises and turns to us.

"What the _fuck _is with all of you?" he looks each one of us in the eye. "This is what happens when you follow me. You saw the fate Mercedes came to."

Annette looks at the ground. I look over at Hilda, who I'm glad is focused on Dimitri instead of me. He might be ridden with guilt about letting his classmates die, but it's not like I have a better track record. Marianne, Raphael, Judith, Mercedes, Leonie, Felix, Petra, Ingrid. Every fight, the list gets longer.

"But you people are going to keep following me whatever I do, aren't you?" Dimitri says.

"Always, your highness," Dedue says, bowing his head.

Ashe and Sylvain exchange a glance and then nod at Dimitri.

"How about you, Annette?" Dimitri says. "I led your best friend to her death. I worked with Rhea to burn Fhirdiad to ash. Why don't you hate me?"

"Watch you words," Catherine says. "Lady Rhea-"

"Enough." Seiros puts a hand on her shoulder. "This is not our discussion, Catherine."

"It's not that I forgive you for leading Mercedes halfway across Fódlan to her death," Annette says. "It's not that I need to obey you because you're the king's son. But we don't have any other hope. Cornelia bled us dry, the Empire wants to turn us into a vassal state and funnel the last of our resources back to the south, and the Alliance has folded. Uh, sorry Claude."

"No offense taken," I say.

"You're the only one who can bring us together," Annette says. "I want justice for what happened to Mercedes, but we can't afford any more bloodshed. I want to see the people who burned down Fhirdiad get dragged through the streets in chains, but we can't risk dividing our people further. Right now, what our people need is a king and a church they can rally behind. So I have to put aside grudges."

Dimitri snorts. "You make the most sense out of all these fools following me. Very well. If you are all determined to follow me to the eternal flames and back, I will play the role you have assigned for me. For now, I will do my best to lead the people of the Kingdom to a brighter future. That does mean I'll stop running off on personal whims to fight Imperials. But if you trust me not to relapse, you're still a fool."

I see the tension in the air deflate as people's postures relax, particularly the Blue Lions former students. Something pops onto their faces that looks a little like hope. I'm not sure if they're daring to put faith in the future yet, but the spark is there.

"We can go through the formal ceremony back in Fhirdiad," Catherine says, "But if you want to be seen as the hope of the Kingdom, we should think of you as the king. Not that I owe fealty to you or anything."

"King." Dimitri purses his lips. "Guess that's what fate has in store for me. But in private, call me whatever you wish. You all know the beast inside of me." The right corner of his mouth rises to form a smirk. "So the boar prince has become the boar king. Shame I outlived Felix."

"What about you, Seiros?" I say. "What are you planning to do now?"

"I haven't gotten that far in my plans," she says. "I know that Edelgard is trying to destroy the church I created 900 years ago. But the more I learn about the Church of Seiros, the less I want to keep it standing."

"Lady Rhea," Catherine says. "Please. Your church has done more good than you can imagine. You managed to keep peace for 900 years."

Minus the parts where the Kingdom split off from the Empire and the Alliance split off from the Kingdom, it is amazing how little warfare there's been in Fódlan over the last millennium. On Earth, I'm not sure there are any civilizations that have stayed alive that long without constant conflict. China might be the closest, but even that was constantly shattering and being reformed.

"The church has done some sketchy things over the past few years," I say, "But I think Annette was right about the people needing a light to look towards. And again, you are the second coming of Saint Seiros, who saved Fódlan from the clutches of Nemesis."

"People keep mentioning that name," Seiros says, "But I have no recollection of who that is."

"Doesn't matter if he even existed or not. His name and yours have power in the hearts of the people. You have the chance to be a guiding light for the lost and scattered. I don't want you to squander this chance."

"And what about Edelgard?" Seiros says. "If I start leading the people of the Kingdom alongside King Dimitri, won't she come in and lop both of our heads off?"

"Assuming you stabilize the Kingdom for her, she should try to keep you in some sort of important position to keep the Kingdom that way if she's smart."

Though Edelgard being smart is definitely an if. Plus, she seems to have a hatred of the church that transcends her usual imperialist bloodthirst. I know enough about history to understand that basically all ideologies are built off excuses for power grabs. If Edelgard ending the crest system wasn't a pathway to making herself an absolute ruler, I'm guessing she wouldn't care as much about it. But even within that practical framework where we see Edelgard as a pure warlord, it does make sense for her to crush the church if she can. Dimitri's influence will only ever be over the Kingdom, but Seiros could inspire people in the Empire to rise up against her.

"I can't promise anything," Seiros says, crossing her arms. "But I'll keep it in mind."

"Your Highness," comes a voice from above. "Emergency report."

I look up to see a Pegasus knight descending from the sky. Dimitri is still kneeling over Ingrid's body, and looks at the messenger out of the corner of his eye.

"Pardon the interruption." The Pegasus knight hops off his mount and takes a knee. "But a scouting force of Imperial soldiers has approached the gates of Arianrhod. They are offering to parley with us. What is your response."

What awful timing. Better than backstabbing us when we were in the middle of dealing with Cornelia, I suppose.

"So those Imperial dogs show up after the fight is over," Dimitri says.

I glance over at Seiros. "Perfect time for you to see what's going on in person."

And honestly, it's a good thing that Edelgard didn't get to Arianrhod before we did. If we can threaten to stall out a siege that will be costly for the Empire, we can force a peace treaty that's less harsh on the already bleeding Kingdom.

"I have no desire to meet with them," Dimitri says.

A pause. After nearly a full minute of silence, Dimitri lets out a growl.

"Isn't someone going to tell me that I'm being ridiculous?" he says. "That to be the good king I promised, I must look after my people even if it means extending a branch to the Imperials?"

"If it's a scouting force," I say, "You don't have to go yourself to parley. You can send retainers."

Because a part of me still worries that Dimitri will revert to bloodlust when he sees the Empire's banner and uniforms.

"Excellent idea," Dimitri says. "Sylvain. You'll do."

Sylvain lets out a sigh. "Did you have to throw me under the cart, Claude?"

I suppose he makes the most sense as someone for Dimitri to send. House Gautier was a part of the resistance against Cornelia when Edelgard first issued the overthrowing of the Kingdom's monarchy, so Sylvain's word holds weight.

"I'd also like to go," I say. "If one of Edelgard's closest is there, I'll know them. Since Byleth had me fight with their class so often and all."

Dimitri shrugs. "It makes no difference to me."

"Hilda, you're also coming along," I say.

"What?" She tries to shrink behind Ashe. "There's nothing that cute little me can do in these fancy negotiations. I'll leave it to you boys."

Again, not a man, but I don't know how everyone in this world will react if I tell them I'm nonbinary.

"Seiros," I say. "Are you in?"

"I…" she glances at Catherine, who nods. "You're right. This is a good chance for me to observe what is going on. I don't think I can hide my presence from Edelgard for much longer, regardless."

"So Hilda," I turn back to face her, "There's another woman at the table, which means you've run out of excuses."

"But why me?"

"Because you have all the information of the Daphnel spies stored between those pigtails of yours."

"What? I was, like, barely listening." She lets out a yawn.

"Plus you have a free escape on the back of a wyvern if negotiations turn sour. Come on."

She continues sputtering excuses, and this is the point where I've learned that the best course of action is ignoring her until she decides to join us. Time to see if I can keep our hold on this fortress for longer than a few hours with the right negotiations.

#

Seiros hitches a ride on my wyvern with me, and the four of us converge outside the gates of Arianrhod to see a pair of familiar faces stepping out to approach us from the larger force of Imperial soldiers. Caspar and Lysithea. I regard the expressions of my allies. Seiros is studying the Adrestian banner, and I wonder if she's trying to jog her memory about the Empire. Sylvain looks relaxed as usual, but there's weary tension in his eyes when he looks out at the Adrestian forces in front of us. Not enough to take the fortress in a full-on assault, but if they cut out access to nearby supply stores that pegasus knights can reach they could initiate a siege without issue. And Hilda is pretending to look bored, but I can tell by the way she's playing with her hair that she's nervous. And she looks cold. Why did she decide to wear that skimpy outfit when she knew she was visiting Fhirdiad, again?

Caspar approaches us first, bladed gauntlets slipped onto his hands. Lysithea follows behind, and I make a note not to let my attention go to Caspar alone. Lysithea is half his size but twice his threat, in combat and negotiations both. Caspar leading is nothing more than a front.

"Claude," Caspar says. "Not who I was expecting to see today. I thought you were on our side now."

"Forget that," Lysithea says. "Archbishop Rhea. Her Majesty the Adrestian Emperor has offered you a full life in exile if you surrender and disband the church. I urge you to consider her plea."

Right. Seiros is the big catch here. The rest of us are big fish but in a bigger pond.

"I will take her request into consideration," Seiros says with a nod. "For now, I am simply an observer."

Lysithea hesitates, and I can tell Seiros' measured response catches her off guard. Good. If Seiros presents herself as being more in control of herself than Rhea ever was (which I think she is, honestly), she'll seem like a bigger threat. With enough posturing for power, we may be able to negotiate from a position that keeps the Kingdom from being doomed to eternal poverty.

"What are you doing here, Claude?" Caspar says. "We appreciated your help back in Fhirdiad."

"Glad someone did," Sylvain says. "Remind me never to participate in a fight that confusing again."

I can see the gears turning in Seiros' head. She seems smart enough, so I bet she's put together most of what happened back at the battle of Fhirdiad. How she sees me for fighting against her is another question altogether.

"I fought then to ensure the safety of the Kingdom's people," I say. "As I do now. I have yielded the Alliance, but I don't want the Kingdom to become another puppet state that serves to enrich Edelgard and her inner circle."

"You're mistaken about what Edelgard's goal is," Lysithea says. "She's planning to bring down the entire nobility system. There will be no need for siphoning the Kingdom's resources into greedy hands."

"And what's replacing them in those positions of power, Lysithea?" I say. "You're smart enough to know that somebody needs to set regulations for society to function."

"A meritocracy," Lysithea says. "Appointed by-"

"By Edelgard." I wave a hand. "Oh, I believe you that they'll be better at their jobs than the nobles are, but this entire thing is a ploy to give her absolute control over Fódlan. If she appoints the ministers, they won't dare turn against her word since they know how easily they'll be replaced. Isn't that how it works in the Alliance right now?"

"Yeah," Hilda says, "And she's not appointing the best people for the job, either. It's people like Acheron who she thinks can overpower the dissenters."

Not to mention Lady Ordelia being the leader of the Alliance, though I think Hilda is wise for not bringing that up as an example of Edelgard scheming in front of Lysithea.

"So she's dissolving the nobility to create a stronger centralized power that's better at their jobs," I say. "Good for her. But what is she after, Lysithea? What is she going to do with that absolute power?"

"You've heard her talk about it. We're going to end the crest system. You don't know how it's hurt me, Claude." She looks at the ground. "How it's hurt both of us."

It's true that I don't know the details of Thales' experiments, and that I do know that the horrors he unleashed on Lysithea were unspeakable. And if Edelgard suffered through the same procedure, it's no wonder that she would want to abolish the crest system.

"But then why work with Thales when she needed to organize the invasion of Fódlan?" I say. "Why try to gobble up the rest of the continent to begin with? She's dancing around her excuses, but what she's doing is clear. She's trying to declare dominion over Fódlan so that nobody can question her. That's not the kind of person I trust to lead us forward."

"That's the kind of power we need to stop the atrocities we suffered," Lysithea says.

"And using Demonic Beasts to invade Garreg Mach is better? This isn't about the morals for her, Lysithea. Imperialism is about looting and conquest. Always has been, always will be."

"Then why did you tell me to join her if you despise her so much?" Lysithea says.

"Yeah," Caspar says. "Don't forget how you told all of us to go back to Enbarr and help Edelgard five years ago when she declared war against the Church of Seiros."

Sylvain whistles. "You're full of surprises, Claude. You're like a quadruple agent or something."

"Not helping," I say. "What happened to you representing Dimitri, anyway?"

Sylvain shrugs. "You're doing great in my stead. Keep at it, Claude."

"I am curious to hear why you encouraged them to join the Empire, though," Hilda says.

"I told Lysithea the same thing as you," I say. "That surrendering is better than dying."

Why couldn't Leonie have listened to me? I force myself to exhale.

"And I also told her that she should track down Those Who Slither in the Dark if Edelgard wins," I say, "Since they're a threat to us all."

"Compare that to now, where you're trying to persuade me that Edelgard is the worst fate that can befall Fódlan," Lysithea says.

"And five years ago, I thought the Black Eagles students were going to be safer with Byleth. And that it was unlikely for the war to reach Enbarr. So I told them to go there."

"And why can't we have that same cooperation now?" Caspar says. "All of us looking out for each other in this time of war?"

Honestly? That's what I want. But if I act all friendly and weak, I have no bargaining power with Edelgard. Maybe I can persuade this pair to come to peaceful terms with goodwill alone, but Hubert will have none of that.

"I think it's clear," Seiros cuts in, "That we want to be gracious to each other, but that we're on opposite sides of the conflict here. Why did your force approach Arianrhod to begin with?"

Not a bad question. The woman with amnesia about the past thousand years is more helpful in this conversation than Sylvain and Hilda.

"We were scouting the area and preparing for our attack against Cornelia," Caspar says. "But it looks like you beat us to it. If you surrender the rest of the Kingdom to us, it will prevent more bloodshed. We'll be grateful to you for capturing Arianrhod for us. And for all your complaining about the Alliance, the people there are doing quite well."

I raise an eyebrow. "Have you been living there?"

"Linhardt's doing crest research in Derdriu," Caspar says. "Which means he's more familiar with the current state of the territory than you are."

Ouch. I can't argue with him on that one.

"Tell him he's wrong, Hilda," Lysithea says. "The Kingdom is doing far worse than the Alliance, and it's because the war keeps dragging on."

"No," Sylvain says, "It's because you had Cornelia overthrow our monarchy and funnel our resources into these Slither people or whatever you call them. And even after you distanced yourselves from her, you did nothing for _five years _and we had to get rid of her ourselves. Now the Slithers are more powerful than ever, and it's Edelgard's fault."

"You can blame Claude for that one," Caspar says. "If we invaded the Kingdom, his wyvern squads would have nipped at our heels the whole way."

"Did Edelgard not tell you that I tried to negotiate a deal so that I wouldn't have to raid her?" I say. "If she didn't want war with the Alliance, we wouldn't have fought her."

"This finger-pointing is getting nowhere," Seiros says. "Why don't the two of you return to Edelgard saying that we want an official meeting with her? We can discuss terms and details there."

Good strategy. If we can get the Empire off our backs for even a couple days, we can properly fortify Arianrhod in case of another invasion.

"I'll talk to Dimitri about a possible surrender," I say. "But we'll want treaty terms that ensure support for the people of Faerghus. Because I don't trust Edelgard as far as I can throw her."

Caspar and Lysithea exchange a glance.

"That's acceptable to us," Lysithea says. "I will pass that along. And…"

"Yes?"

"I'm still grateful for what you did," Lysithea says. "How you let me fight to protect my homeland but gave me a way out. But that won't stop us from being enemies if negotiations turn sour."

"I didn't expect anything else. Best of luck, Lysithea. In whatever you decide to do."

She nods, and raises an arm to cast as spell. The next second, her and Caspar vanish. I'll have to keep that teleporting trick in mind the next time it seems like we have one of them cornered. Hubert can also use that move to escape about any situation he wants to, and I know he won't think twice before popping it off.

"Let's discuss this with Dimitri," Seiros says. "How do you think he'll take the idea of surrendering?"

Sylvain exchanged a glance with me.

"I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you," Sylvain says.

Marianne, Raphael, Judith, Mercedes, Leonie, Felix, Petra, Ingrid. The longer this war goes on, the more names I need to add to the list. I'm hoping for the best, but someone like Edelgard who puts conquest above all else isn't likely to give us good terms unless she's desperate.

Now's a good a time as any to pray to Sothis.

* * *

**Claude comments about impractical FE outfits, part 28. Speaking of which, I looked up Cornelia's character model to describe her (not that I ever do much character description, but...) and it's way more revealing than I remembered. I also hate that expression she makes in her character portrait where she's baring her teeth but with duck lips. **

**Anyways this is also where I give up trying to avoid political negotiations, which I'm always drawn to for some reason. *shrugs***

**Review Response: **Dictator Mags: Without any major casualties... that's the kicker, isn't it? My friends tell me I kill off a ton of characters, but I am trying to rein it in a little.


	38. Chapter 29: Reach for My Hand

We soon get a message from Edelgard saying she wants to negotiate in a week, and the next few days pass in a blur. I make arrangements to have Dimitri be crowned king in the ruins of Fhirdiad and for Seiros to reestablish the Church of Seiros under a new banner, gathering up the Knights scattered across the Kingdom. My role in all of this is to scout the Kingdom lands and make sure the Imperials aren't interfering. Edelgard agrees to stay out of Fhirdiad and not attack Arianrhod until we finish negotiations, which I count as one of my few blessings so far in this war. Not that there are any defenses left at all that will repel attackers outside Fhirdiad, but having the Kingdom's capital be our space adds legitimacy to our cause.

I'm not there for most of the action, but Seiros informs me later that she did in fact throw Rhea under the bus during the new creation of the Church of Seiros.

"I made some narrative about her being descended from me, and how I had to take control after she ruined everything," Seiros says. "There's no way we win the people over if we tell them that we were in the right to burn their city to ashes."

"And did they believe that you are in fact Saint Seiros?"

"Hard to tell. But logic isn't what reaches hearts. It's narratives, with tangible evidence to back those narratives up."

"So you need evidence but not logic?"

Seiros nods. "For the church to regain its footing, we'll need to distribute food to the poor. If we provide evidence that we are now on their side and saving them, they'll ignore the gaps in logic we're making."

Too bad Seiros couldn't have used this logic as Rhea to keep Fódlan from tearing itself apart when Edelgard declared war on the church. Seiros must catch a part of my expression when she looks at me, because her gaze goes to the floor.

"When you stare into my eyes," she says, "You see her. I can tell."

I shrug. No point in denying it.

"Am I that person, Claude? Am I still Rhea?"

"Why don't you ask Catherine? I'm a dispossessed Alliance lord who knows jack shit about anything."

"You know that's not true. Dimitri may be the king, but the Blue Lions listen to you. And…" a slight smirk comes to her face. "You're the only one who can make Hilda do work."

"That comes down to practice," I say. "And patience. Lots of patience."

"You're pulling the strings, whether you like it or not," Seiros says. "We can all tell you have the skills of a leader and the mind of a tactician. That's why I want to know who you think I am, Claude von Riegan."

"You're not Rhea," I say. "Not yet. But I'm scared that once the memories come back, you'll slip into her again."

She exhales. "It's good to hear that. Because I'm terrified of that reality as well. What could possibly turn me into someone who burns down a city of civilians?"

It's still a bit hard for me to believe that the real Seiros was ever like this. People with this much compassion don't tend to go around torching cities. And if she's worried too…

"Guess I should keep an eye on you, then," I say. "Let you know if I think you're turning into her."

"Thank you," she says. "I'm grateful for Catherine, but I don't trust her to tell me the full truth about myself."

After that, she questions me a bit more about the politics of what's been happening in Fódlan for the past millennium. After I explain the Alliance's system of government before and after Edelgard took over, Seiros tells me that she doesn't want to keep me too long and lets me go. I consider objecting, but it's true that I have plenty of other matters to attend to.

I spend the last few days before the treaty making contact with Daphnel spies and receiving all their intel about the Empire. Apparently, after Byleth went missing, some of the lords in the western Empire banded together in an insurrection against Edelgard. Now it's starting to make more sense why she's open to negotiations at all. I wonder if it's too much to hope that the nobles cause enough trouble for her to stop care about gobbling up the rest of Fódlan for her own personal Empire.

#

After falling asleep in what's left of the royal palace the night before the negotiations, I come to laying in a field of carnation flowers. White, red, yellow, pink, all scattered among each other that continue on until they hit the horizon. The sun is halfway through rising over the lazy hills in the background. I glance around to see Edelgard sitting at a table with a steaming teapot, a set of pastries, and a game I recognize as dragonchess. She offers a friendly grin and waves at me, motions that look out of place for someone in her Imperial ceremonial armor.

Still tense, I walk over to Edelgard. She motions the chair across from her, and after a full minute of hesitation I sit down.

"Good to see that you still have your survival instincts about you," Edelgard says.

"Around you? Always."

"I'm not sure whether I should take that as a compliment or an insult. Would you like some tea? Made with Almyran pine needles."

My favorite. Lysithea must have told her. Which means Edelgard must have asked. Which means…

"You did this on purpose, didn't you?" I say. "Set this whole thing up."

"I was hoping that didn't need to be stated."

"How?" I say. "Are we still in a dream?"

"Of sorts. You weren't there when Byleth was banished into the darkness of Zaharas, but they told me you're aware of other planes of existence."

Yeah, like Earth. Not whatever this is.

"This is the world of dreams," Edelgard says. "You can leave whenever you wish by willing yourself awake, but I was hoping we could have a nice conversation. Reminisce about the old days. Tea?"

"I'm good."

She pours some for herself. "A shame. I can't poison you here, you know."

"How did you bring me here?"

Edelgard sighs. "She was right that you were going to be annoying about this."

"Who? Lysithea?"

Edelgard nods. "She, Hubert, and Linhardt worked together to figure out how to transport people here. And how to call others. We didn't think it worked at first outside the four of us, actually. But here you are."

And I'm the first person they tried to contact besides testing within their little mage group? That doesn't make sense.

Wait.

"You were trying to contact Byleth," I say.

Edelgard sighs. "I wish you would stop figuring everything out. For your own good."

"So it's true. They've gone missing. They could even be-"

She glances up at me with enough iron in her gaze to cut my sentence off.

"Byleth is not dead. I'd know if they were."

"More magic?"

A smirk. "Not what Hubert would consider magic. Have you ever been in love, Claude?"

"You could say that. It was a long time ago."

"Don't you think you'd know in your bones if something ever happened to that person?"

Only because I'm tracking Dimitri here in Fódlan. Still, I nod along, hesitating enough to communicate that I don't fully buy into her idea of connection stretching across any space.

"You're hopeless," Edelgard says.

"I take it the feeling is mutual between you and them?" I say.

"Nosy, nosy." She takes a sip of her tea. "But yes. Neither of us ever had courted someone before. But you know what they say. Love blooms on a battlefield."

Lucky for them. They're the scariest power couple I've come across, though that's mostly thanks to Byleth and their godlike powers.

"You'll find your special someone too," Edelgard says. "Assuming you don't throw your life away."

"I'm hoping nobody else needs to die in this pointless war," I say. "Is this what you wanted? To begin the negotiations before they actually start?"

"I was thinking we could play some dragonchess and catch up from our academy days. All of my subordinates think highly of you, Claude. Hubert says you're more of a threat than Dimitri and Rhea combined. But she goes by Seiros now, doesn't she?"

Well, that was fast. Though I suppose it couldn't have been too challenging for Edelgard to put two and two together about Seiros. I do my best to keep my expression neutral, and she looks disappointed I don't react.

"I'll make the first move," Edelgard says. "Hubert tells me that you have good instincts for this game, even if you're not trained in all the strategies."

Edelgard moves a dragonchess piece. Guess I'm in a detective movie playing chess with my nemesis as some sort of ham-fisted metaphor for… something or other. Most likely me being cornered. I make the standard move in response to Edelgard's opening, but my attention is focused more on her than the game.

"Still so tense," Edelgard says. "I can't physically hurt you here, you know. Try shaking my hand."

She extends her arm towards me. I hesitate. Is this another trap? If so, I don't think she needed to wait this long to spring it. I reach for her hand and my fingers pass through hers like they're an illusion.

"More comfortable now?" Edelgard says.

"I'm not sure I am."

She smirks. "Byleth never mentioned how paranoid you are."

"It's a good way to stay alive."

"It is. Unless you have them around." She makes her next dragonchess move.

But why bring me to the world of dreams in the first place? There must be something she's trying to get out of me. Something important enough for her to wait until my guard is lowered.

"What did you think of me?" I say. "Back at the academy, I mean."

"Does it matter?"

"It does to me."

Edelgard sighs. "In many ways, I was childish back then. I saw you as competition."

"You didn't hide that during the Battle of Eagle and Lion. By the way, Byleth cheated on that one and rewound time when I took you out."

"And you're still mad about it, all these years later." A pause. "But I didn't mean that sort of competition, Claude. I was terrified you were going to take Byleth away from me. Then I'd be all alone. Again."

Ah. Though I wonder how much of her vulnerability is an act. I hate that I need to suspect everything she says, but she's proven to be the type of person who will twist anything to her advantage. Can't let my walls down.

"At the time, I don't think I understood that I was in love with Byleth," Edelgard says. "They were a teacher to me. But I think seeing you with them made me jealous. I wondered if they only cared about me because they got assigned to our class."

Didn't Byleth pick the Black Eagles to lead? It's unfair how much control they have over their own destiny while the rest of us scramble to escape their shadow. But not anymore. Now we have to pick up all the broken pieces they created… or smash them further.

"Well, I'm guessing you picked this up, but I was never in love with Byleth."

"I wasn't positive," Edelgard says. "The way you targeted them on the battlefield reminded me of a scorned lover."

"It's weird to date someone who was your professor," I say. "No offense."

"Normally I'd agree. But Byleth is in a class of their own." She frowns at me. "But I still don't understand. Why were they so drawn to you?"

"Few reasons," I say. "Like I said, we both know about different dimensions like this one. That was where we spent a lot of our time together, actually."

"So when the two of you disappeared at random hours, you were talking to each other?"

"And many other people. It's a long story. We're also both bisexual and nonbinary. Queer people tend to stick together, at least where I'm from."

"Ah, they mentioned that," Edelgard says. "That they fall in between male and female in terms of who they are at their core, which is more important to them than what body they were born into." A pause. "Should I use 'they' pronouns for you as well?"

"He is fine."

"The more I hear about you," Edelgard says, "The more I think you would thrive in the world I dream of. Together, we can dismantle the idea that what you're born with determines who you are. That applies to crests and assigned genders."

I gnaw on the inside of my mouth. It's true that the crest system is total bullshit. But the fact that she's only offering now…

"You never would be extending this olive branch if I weren't a threat to you," I say. "When Byleth was on your side, you didn't care about anyone on the other side because you could use their godlike powers to quash them all. The fact that you're paying me any mind at all means that I have a better chance of stopping you now than I ever did before."

I see Edelgard tense. Good. I can't let her be the only one with cards in her hand to play.

"It's unfortunate you believe that," she says.

"If you wanted me to join you, we could have made a deal when I was in charge of the Alliance," I say. "Remember that I didn't want to fight you at all. You could have dealt with Cornelia months earlier if you were willing to see us as an independent trade partner instead of a pool of resources for you to slurp up."

"The Church of Seiros-"

"I told them to fuck off after what happened to Marianne. You can't lie to me about this one, Edelgard. I've seen the kind of person you are when you have total control, which makes me never want to bend the knee to you again."

"Not like you ever did before." Edelgard frowns. "And don't tell me that bowing and scraping before Dimitri is better. If you side with me, I could make you the leader of the Alliance again. Somebody needs to keep Lorenz in check, and the other houses I empowered are not fit for the job."

"We'll discuss that in negotiations," I say. "Unless that's what you think this is?"

"Lysithea told me you're the mastermind behind this whole independent Kingdom movement."

And she wants to buy me off because of it. Not a bad strategy. If I only cared for myself, her offer is cushier than anything the barren Kingdom can provide for me. But I must make sure the people of the Kingdom are safe and secure.

"Though we're getting a bit off-topic here," Edelgard says. "I'm glad that you're eager to hammer out a peace treaty, but that can wait until the negotiations. What I want to know is," she leans in. "Where is Byleth?"

"I don't know. I was hoping you could tell me."

Edelgard studies my expression for a second, and then frowns. "I wish you were a more trustworthy person so I could believe you."

"Why do you think I know? Is your own intelligence network that pitiful?"

She ignores the jab, instead looking up at the sky. "It's possible that they weren't at Arianrhod. But if they were, I'm certain you would have killed them."

I open my mouth to deny her claim, but I can't. I'm not positive I could kill an incapacitated person who posed no immediate threat to me, but I'm fed up with conquerors harnessing the powers of gods to loot and slaughter. If Byleth is the sacrifice that prevents that from happening again…

"If you have them kept captive at Arianrhod," Edelgard says, "Which is the wise thing to do, you have quite a bit of leverage in your negotiation. It might be enough to persuade me that your little independent Kingdom and Church movement isn't so bad."

"Yeah, and then you break the treaty as soon as you get them back because you enter that state where you can control everyone and don't have to listen to them."

"So you do have them held hostage."

"What? No. I was saying hypothetically. If I had them hostage and wanted to use them against you, I'd have brought it up before now."

Edelgard gives me a suspicious eye. "Or this is some elaborate ploy of yours."

She moves a dragonchess piece. I blink and look down at the board for the first time in a minute. I'm cornered with no hope of winning the game. I slide the pieces off the board.

"I forefeit," I say. "The game, not the negotiations. The obvious metaphor of the game representing our situation is breaking down here, because I've still got plenty of fight left in me."

Edelgard frowns. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Forget it. I don't know where your lover is, as much as I want to. Oh, shouldn't you be busy figuring out where that nuke came from? Maybe they took Byleth there."

"Nuke?"

"The… metal tube that exploded over Fhirdiad."

"Ah, the javelin of light. Hubert, Linhardt, and Lysithea are on it. You could assist in our research efforts if you wanted to join our side. Think about it, Claude. Even if we do negotiate for an independent Kingdom, your skills are welcome in the Adrestian Empire."

Honestly? This is the best job offer I'm going to get. On Earth I don't have any employable skills, especially since I spent the last five years fighting in a war. But I can't abandon Dimitri.

"I'll consider it," I say, "Even though I know you would have crushed me without hesitation if Byleth were with you right now."

"What's the point of bringing my vision to the world if I need to kill all competent administrators?" Edelgard says. "Besides, Byleth wasn't going to let me kill you even if I wanted to."

Well they're full of surprises, aren't they.

"Anything else you want to talk about before I get back to my regularly scheduled sleep?" I say.

"I hope the negotiations go well," Edelgard says. "For both of us."

She offers me a goodbye nod and vanishes the next second. Immediately after, the world around me grows hazy and I can feel myself drifting back off to sleep.

Figures she can't let me have the last word.

#

The next day, I'm soaring through the skies atop Omar with Hilda and her wyvern next to me. After a few times of smirking at how Dimitri is holding onto her to make sure he doesn't fall off the flying reptile, both of them made me stop glancing back at them every so often. I'm sure that if we all make it out of this alive, Hilda's never going to let me live this one down.

And then it comes into view. Garreg Mach Monastery, in the same ruined state I saw it in when I met Byleth five years after the war started. I still hate how good it felt to fight by their side one last time, even knowing that we were going to be enemies from that point forward. And to see all the former students from the Black Eagle house before we had to stand on opposite sides of a war that neither of us wanted.

At that point, Petra was still alive.

I steady my breathing and begin my descent. Edelgard suggested this place as a "neutral" meeting ground, saying that it would be a good place to meet in the middle if we truly claimed to have control over the Kingdom's grounds. I'm sure she was expecting us to refuse since the monastery is far into her territory, but I convinced Dimitri that it would be an ideal negotiation spot. In addition to the symbolic value of two civilizations meeting at a holy site to discuss peace, which legitimatizes the new Church of Seiros we're trying to prop up, we know the monastery inside and out. If Edelgard plans an ambush for us, we'll be ready.

Although being ready at this point mostly consists of having Hilda swoop around looking for anything fishy. Still, I left Seiros behind for multiple reasons. If Dimitri and I don't make it back, she can go on the offensive and make Edelgard pay for rejecting peace, even if we stand little chance of stopping the Emperor in the long run.

Hilda and I descend until we land on the bridge in front of the cathedral. Imperial soldiers eye us with blades and lances at the ready, but none of them make any hostile moves towards us. After we hop off our wyverns, it takes an unnecessary amount of time for the doors to the cathedral to open. Inside, I see Edelgard in her ceremonial emperor armor, along with Hubert and a number of imperial guards. I haven't seen Bernadetta, Dorothea, or Ferdinand since the battle for Fhirdiad, though I'm sure I'd know if something happened to them from the Earth news I have access to.

The cathedral is a good place to negotiate for the same symbolic and practical reasons. Coming to an agreement under the watchful eye of the goddess statue puts both the Kingdom and the Empire beneath the church, and there are enough windows that we can make a dramatic escape if negotiations break down.

"Greetings to you both," Edelgard says. "I am glad to see you in good health."

She speaks to Dimitri, not so much as making eye contact with me. It's like the conversation with her in the dream world never even happened.

"And you as well," Dimitri says.

His voice still comes out as a low growl, but it doesn't sound as openly hostile as usual. Small steps.

Edelgard ushers for us to sit in chairs across from them. I examine the seat for any sort of trap before following her imperative, which earns me a smirk from Hubert. He introduces a house Vestra scribe who will be recording the contents of any treaty we come up with. I'll need to keep an eye on her, since I have no doubt she's trained to twist the wording to her lord's advantage. Still, we _are _on the losing side of this war, and I don't want to use up my limited amount of negotiating power by pushing for co-authorship. Score one for Hubert, I guess.

"I believe that we can all come to a peaceful agreement that will bring an end to this senseless war," Edelgard says.

Senseless, she says? Bold words from someone who started it unprovoked. I nearly have to bite my tongue to stop from responding. Hubert's smirk widens as he studies my expression. I need to work on keeping my face neutral.

"That is the idea," Dimitri says. "Do you have terms you wish to propose?"

Okay, maybe I should have talked this out with him before. Letting the dominant Empire propose the starting terms already puts us on the back foot, but now I can't cut in without undermining Dimitri's authority. I'll have to hold this second L, I guess.

"We do," Edelgard says. "First, the Kingdom shall submit to the Empire and its people shall receive full status as Imperial citizens. This includes the Faerguhus military and knighthood program falling under Imperial jurisdiction."

Dimitri raises an eyebrow, and Edelgard continues without acknowledging him.

"Second, the Church of Seiros shall be permanently disbanded, and Rhea will be charged for burning a city full of civilians to the ground. In return for this surrender, you will be allowed to keep your position as a ceremonial king, though you will not wield any sort of political power. In addition, for the next ten years while the rebuilding process occurs, we will not levy taxes on the Kingdom that do not also apply to the southern Empire territory."

Not a bad surrender treaty, all things considered. Though I don't know about throwing Seiros under the bus. I doubt Edelgard is expecting us to accept this deal, and wants to make us look bad by rejecting it. At this point, I have two paths forward. Either I can try to sweeten the surrender terms, or I can turn the discussion to a treaty where the Kingdom continues to exist as an independent political entity.

"My people will not consent to the Empire tearing apart our culture," Dimitri says. "We request to maintain control over Faerghus' knighthood program. Our system of knights props up the entire nation by forcing wealthy nobles to invest in the local economy, which is needed if we want to rebuild Fhirdiad together."

Okay, so maybe Dimitri isn't hopeless at this. Faerghus doesn't have a lot of natural resources, and Dimitri's right that if it joins the Empire it could fall behind from a production standpoint. Though if the Kingdom remains on its own, we could have even larger problems on our hands. I'm sure Edelgard and Hubert know that.

"For you to build up your own military and revolt once the Empire's resources are funneled into reconstruction?" Edelgard says. "I think not. It is because I respect the Kingdom's might that I am requesting some oversight over the training process."

"Oversight is one prospect," I say. "Complete control is another."

"If the old Kingdom Lords are allowed to train knights after being conquered by the Empire," Hubert cuts in, "They will poison their starry-eyed cadets against the Empire. This will lead to needless strife in the long run, as tensions will stay inflamed. Bureaucratic oversight will not fix that issue."

Clever, clever. Hubert waited for me to speak so that he didn't risk looking like he was puppet mastering Edelgard as I'm guessing he believes I'm doing with Dimitri. He's not totally wrong about me having influence over Dimitri and the negotiation process. And he's also not wrong about the Kingdom lords holding grudges against the Empire and passing that down to the next generation.

"Then how do we know that you will uphold your terms?" Dimitri says. "And in ten years, you could go back to draining us dry like you had Cornelia do and with a disbanded military we'd be powerless to stop you."

"We had no affiliation with what that woman did," Edelgard says.

That's a lie. I don't think it's worth calling her out on it right now, but I know that Edelgard's responsible for the coup. It's a good trump card to hold onto.

"If you wish to look at what your fate will be, consider the Alliance," Hubert says. "It is still a thriving center of commerce and culture."

Though the Alliance has always been a stronger economic powerhouse than the Kingdom.

"Except that you're also draining the resources out of the Alliance," I say. "The reason our economy is resilient is because of us, not your policies."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Hubert says. "We placed taxes on the import and trade of valuable goods. It affects all territories equally."

But the Alliance is the center of trade for those goods. And very little of that tax money is going back towards the Alliance, unless you count the Empire's military that keeps the people of the Alliance down.

"Perhaps we should return to this topic of discussion later," Edelgard says. "Can we all agree that the Church of Seiros should be quashed and made illegal to organize? I am fine with people having their own faith, but the church's intervention over Fódlan's history has led to nothing but strife."

Am I willing to throw Seiros under the bus for peace? If I can get amnesty for her, perhaps. She didn't even want to lead the church in the first place.

"The church is necessary to keep the people's spirits high in the Kingdom," Dimitri says. "It provides aid for those who need it the most."

"And are you so backward-thinking that you cannot imagine a better future?" Edelgard says. "We change the system so that anyone can succeed and there is no need to negotiate with the church every time the economy falters and our people need extra support. If we remove the taxes commoners pay to lords and the taxes lords pay to the church, that ends up with more money for all of us besides Rhea."

Well, she has a point there. I know I'd be pissed if someone tried to instate a theocracy on Earth.

"What if we abolish the Knights of Seiros?" I say. "That way, we won't be pressured to pay taxes for the church to protect us. The Empire's military is sufficient for that, and gives you more control over internal affairs. Without their military, the church is not a threat to you."

"And what happens the moment Emperor Edelgard passes the torch to the next generation?" Hubert says. "Rhea will have time to scheme and manipulate a naïve ruler to regain her power. Even if Emperor Edelgard properly prepares her decedents for rule, eventually Fódlan will have a weak emperor. And then we are right back to where we began, with a monstrous creature pretending to be human leading Fódlan from the helm."

"If your meritocracy works as well as you claim it will," I say, "There will be no room for the church to take control again. People will not allow their lives to be dictated by divine fate again."

Speaking of which, it's funny to me that Edelgard has only made it this far in crushing religion because she had the power of a literal god on her side. Maybe I'll bring that up if negotiations break down and I need to rub it in.

"And do you think the scheming nobles who rely on the church to check the power of the emperor are so helpless?" Hubert says.

"So it is about total dominion over Fódlan for you. You're not happy until you shut out all those who challenge you, church or nobility."

"It is dominion for the purposes of elevating the talented and worthy," Edelgard says. "For the purposes of giving the common people a chance."

"You mean common people like Mercedes, who you cut down without a second thought?" I say.

"No commoner is born with the Crest of Lamine," Hubert says. "Pretending to be a commoner to emphasize piety and giving does not change her heritage."

I meet Hubert's gaze. "What about Raphael, who you killed because you wanted to aggravate me? What about Leonie, whose chest Byleth rammed with a blade made out of the goddess' spine? What about Dedue, who you had take the fall for Dimitri when you ushered Cornelia's coup? You don't give a fuck about commoners, Edelgard. If you did, you'd see what this war is doing to them."

"Claude." Dimitri puts a hand on my shoulder. "Now is not the time for this."

I force myself to take a deep breath. Hubert is smirking wider than ever, and I wonder if he was trying to rile me up on purpose. One of these days I'm going to put an arrow in between his eyes, and it's going to feel great.

"You're right," I tell Dimitri. To Edelgard, "So what about your offer to allow the church to remain without its army? If you take away the people's faith all at once, they will be left with nothing. There must be a transition period between believing in the goddess and believing in their country."

"And if the church continues to function, what do you propose we do with Rhea?" Edelgard says. "Lysithea tells me you fought with us to stop her from burning down the city. Are you ready for her to meet her end after a thousand years too long of living?"

"Executing Rhea will create the same rifts as destroying the church," I say. "Even if your people worship you as a god emperor, the people of the Kingdom and Alliance will not. We can't risk dividing ourselves against each other if we are going to form a unified Fódlan. I believe we should exile Rhea instead."

"Exile a dragon," Hubert says. "To what, an island she can fly off at her leisure?"

He has a point there. I don't think Seiros has any desire to rule Fódlan, but convincing Edelgard of that will be impossible. Is there no way that we could come to a compromise about this? And even if we do, I don't see Dimitri or Edelgard budging on Faerghus' knighthood program more than they already have. Despite all my posturing, Edelgard still thinks she can have it all. That's what happens when she has a bigger army, I suppose. With nobody to threaten her, she can do whatever she wants with negotiations.

"House custody, then," I say. "But not the dungeons of Enbarr like last time."

"Again," Hubert says. "Your dear archbishop is a _dragon. _House arrest will not keep her contained if she wants to escape."

"We're making no progress on this point, either," Edelgard says. "Claude, there's something I must clarify."

I raise an eyebrow. "Me specifically?"

Edelgard nods. "Despite my step-brother's bloodlust, you are the one who is most mistaken."

I look between Dimitri and Edelgard. They're step siblings? I wonder if one of them told me before and I forgot.

"You say that my ideals are merely an excuse for conquest and dominion," Edelgard says. "Correct?"

"That's generally how it goes, and you don't look like an exception."

"Well, you are mistaken. In fact, since we cannot come to a mutually beneficial deal that involves the Kingdom joining the Empire, I have another proposal. The territories surrounding Fhirdiad, as well as the resistance territories including house Fraldarius and Gautier land, shall reform their own independent Kingdom. We can draw out the borders later if you agree. Dimitri shall be instated as King of Faerghus. In return, you will relinquish control over Arianrhod and hand over Rhea for execution. Her burning Fhirdiad to cinders resulted in the death of someone close to me."

Edelgard puts a hand over her chest. Petra. I gnaw on the inside of my mouth. I should have been able to save her.

"That's… rather generous," Dimitri says. "What is the guarantee that you will not attack us in the future?"

"Our quarrel was with the Church of Seiros," Edelgard says. "With Rhea gone, what to do with the church is up to you. So long as they do not try to regulate the Empire's affairs, I will allow them to exist outside my jurisdiction."

I have to be missing something here. Edelgard could easily quash us. Why would she want to keep the Kingdom independent? Sure, we have to give up Arianrhod, but it's so far away from Fhirdiad that we couldn't keep it anyway if she decided to invade. Maybe she wants to create a buffer state between the Empire and Sreng. But it's not like Sreng is a military superpower of any sort…

"Our people will not look kindly upon us attacking another sovereign nation unprovoked," Hubert says. "Choosing the side of the church was your mistake."

"That's a lie," I say. "The Alliance had nothing to do with the church, but you attacked us first. I know your spiel about all of Fódlan historically belonging to the Empire, and you reclaiming your ancestral lands that the church divided in order to create infighting."

"That is my dream," Edelgard says, "But if it causes needless suffering, I am willing to take a step back."

There's no way this offer is genuine. Edelgard and Hubert knew we weren't going to let her disband the church and abolish the knighthood system. So they then offer us this deal that's clearly too good to be true. What's the trap?

"You've already siphoned the Kingdom's resources out into Imperial coffers," I say. "So I guess you don't need the lands itself anymore."

"Will you stop assuming the worst about me at every turn?" Edelgard says. "Cornelia was the one who hoarded the Kingdom's wealth. In fact, one of the reasons we want to make peace with you is so that we can figure out where their base is located and hunt them down."

Easy enough for them to say. I'm sure Edelgard doesn't _like _the people who killed her siblings and performed unspeakable experiments on her, but she was willing to side with them to conquer the Kingdom once. Getting rid of them has never been her first priority before, so why should that change?

Well, there is the issue of the nukes. Maybe seeing Fhirdiad reduced to rubble persuaded her that Those Who Slither in the Dark are the real threat. Which puts me in an awkward position, because she is right about that. Assuming she's not lying to our faces when she says she wants to hunt them down, anyway.

"How do we know this isn't an excuse for you to quell your noble rebellions and build up a stronger army under the guise of peace?" I say.

For a second, Edelgard falters. Good to see I can still surprise her occasionally. Did she seriously think the insurrections in the southwest Empire were going to stay a secret from the rest of the world?

"You'll have to trust us," Hubert says. "It's not like you have any good alternatives, since our progressive lifestyle doesn't seem to suit you."

If being progressive means looting and pillaging the rest of the world, call me conservative. I don't give Hubert the satisfaction of responding.

"I believe a couple of requests are in order," I say. "First, we'll want someone monitoring Imperial operations to ensure you're not preparing for another war. I'll volunteer and help out fighting Thales and his kind if you weren't saying that to preen your own feathers. Second, we'll want trade through Garreg Mach at comparable levels to what the church oversaw."

"You are not in a position to be making trade requests," Edelgard says.

The glint in her eye tells me I'm headed down the path of danger. But I can't let this issue drop, even if I'm playing into her hand.

"What we need right now is to import food from Imperial territories," I say. "If you want to impose tariffs on our exports, that's within your jurisdiction. But we're trying to enrich you and feed our people at the same time. This initiative benefits everyone, Edelgard."

"You will address Her Majesty by her appropriate title," Hubert says. "And we have need of the Empire's resources for our own rebuilding. If you want to be truly independent, learn to live without trade. Otherwise, you are welcome to join the Empire and acquiesce to our requests."

"Not to mention," Edelgard says, "How does your liege feel about these requests?"

Dimitri crosses his arms. "Claude is right that we need trade so that our people don't starve. Unless you want us raiding your countryside, that is."

"Raids will be taken as acts of war," Hubert says, "And you will have full trade rights if you join the Empire."

I clench my jaw. All this planning and politicking and it comes down to what I should have expected all along. Either we live on our own and starve, or join the Empire and suffer treatment as second class citizens for generations. Edelgard and Hubert want us to refuse. They want this war to continue. This way, they can tell the lords that they offered for us to become independent, that we refused, and that we're a violent threat that needs to be squared away before Fódlan can know peace. And on the off chance we agree to a full surrender, they get everything they want anyway. No matter which option we pick, they win and we lose.

I keep my gaze pointed at Hubert and move my hand closer to the knife at my belt. If they can kill us here, the war is as good as won.

"I don't know why both of you are so committed to saving your precious Kingdom to begin with," Edelgard says. "Your only culture is treating the people of Duscur like dirt."

"Oh, fuck off," I say. "We both know that you forced Petra to fight and die for you because of the Empire's ironclad grip on Brigid."

"Claude." Dimitri's voice is firm. "Not now."

I look between Hubert and Edelgard. "Is he right? Or are the negotiations over if we refuse to accept either of your offers? I'd love to meet in the middle, but all I'm hearing is that we're in no position to make demands."

"What are your thoughts, King Dimitri?" Edelgard says.

"I cannot accept either offer you have presented," Dimitri says, "And I hope we can come to an agreement that makes all of us happy through further negotiation."

Hubert raises a hand, and a ball of dark magic appears in front of his palm. I reach for the knife at my waist and throw it at Hubert. He leans out of the way, but the motion makes his spell go wide, going over Dimitri's shoulder and slamming the wall behind him.

In an instant, Dimitri has Areadbhar drawn and is lunging for Edelgard. As his lance clashes with her axe, he lets out a growl that reminds me of a pit bull.

"So this is the side of me you wanted to see," he says. "So be it. I'll be the boar king one last time and crush your skull between my fingers."

I draw Failnaught and take stock of the situation. Imperial guards are closing in on us from all sides. My first shot is a Fallen Star that I aim at the closest window, which shatters the entire glass pane. Then I start firing at the soldiers moving in. After I take three down, the others hesitate. Good.

"Hubert," Edelgard says. She wards off an attack from Dimitri. "You know this makes me look bad when our negotiations break down like this."

"The King of Delusion was the one who attacked you," Hubert says. "What more can we expect from such as savage monster? This will not hurt your standing at all."

He fires another blast of dark magic at Dimitri, which takes him in the side. Dimitri lets out a roar and takes another swing at Edelgard, denting her armor.

"Hubert," I say. "Go after Hubert."

Dimitri doesn't listen to me. I take aim and fire at the goth man myself, but he's able to take cover behind one of the church benches. If I can force him to teleport away, he won't risk leaving Edelgard behind to die, so we'll be able to make both of them retreat in one fell swoop.

As I ready another shot, pain shoots up my right shoulder blade. I whirl around and leap back, firing an arrow at the soldier who stabbed me. He falls, but two more replace him. Not good. Hubert will keep slinging away magic if I don't keep my focus on him.

"You're making me work!"

The noise comes in from outside the window, and there's only one person it could be. Hilda swoops in through the window I broke with my Fallen Star shot, swinging her axe in a wide arc that sends two soldiers flying. She hacks her way through the mass of elite Imperial guards like they're made of paper mache.

"Dimitri," I say. "Ride's here. Let's get going."

When I look back at him, he's bleeding from at least half a dozen places on his body, and he's surrounded by soldiers. Still, his gaze is only focused on Edelgard. I yell at him, but he keeps on hacking away at her. If I can't get through to him, there's only one option.

I whistle, and Omar comes flying in through the window a few seconds later. I try to convey an apologetic look before I hop onto the saddle. I take shots at a few people trying to poke at Omar with their lances. Kill me if you must, but nobody touches my wyvern.

I snap the reins low to have Omar rush forward towards Dimitri and Edelgard. Some of the soldiers surrounding Dimitri back off, while others are caught in the path of a trampling wyvern. I hook my legs onto the side of the saddle and lean back over the other side so that I'm hanging upside down from Omar's back. A little disorienting seeing the floor above me and the ceiling below me, but it will have to do.

When Omar passes Dimitri, I wrap both arms around his stomach and hoist him up into the air. He's a good two hundred pounds of muscle so it's not easy, but I'm able to pull him up enough that his weight fades from my grasp, and I can tell he's managed to scramble into a sitting position on top of Omar.

"What in the eternal flames-"

"No time for that," I cut him off. "Flick the reins up and he'll fly. Needed to get you out of that mode you were in."

Dimitri grunts, and a second later I hear the sound of Omar beating his weeks and I feel myself being lifted into the air. I'm still upside down hanging from the saddle, but at least this vantage point lets me see Edelgard lowering her axe as we fly up and towards the window. I put my hands behind my head with fingers sticking out like deer antlers to mock her, and I see her eye twitch.

This little deer is going to keep being a thorn in her side yet.

It's only after Omar flies us out of the cathedral that I'm able to pull myself up on top of him and take control of the flight. Hilda and her wyvern fly next to us, and she complains about how sweaty she got during the fight. Besides steering Omar, I root through the supplies in the saddle pouches and find healing Vulneraries for me and Dimitri.

"What was that insanity, Claude?" Dimitri says.

"Not strong enough to hoist you up by the collar, and Omar's too large for me to grab under your armpits while I'm atop him. Hanging off upside down was an idea that came to me, and I didn't have time to second guess it."

Dimitri shakes his head. "You should be dead right now."

It's lucky that either of us got out, honestly. We spend a few minutes flying in silence.

"She's going to invade us again, isn't she?" Dimitri says.

I let out a sigh and nod. No point in lying to ourselves about it.

"Fhirdiad isn't a defensible position anymore," he says, "And I won't let civilians get caught up in another fight. I think there's one place where we need to fight her."

I picture a map of Fódlan in my head. Edelgard already controls the southern and western Kingdom territory, bar the Arianrhod area we took from Cornelia before she had the chance to take it herself. I doubt she'll waste her time with Arianrhod, since it's no threat to her on its own and will be difficult to take by a direct assault. So to advance towards Fhirdiad, she'll pass through…

"The Tailtean Plains," I say.

"Right." Dimitri adjusts his eyepatch. "Where the Kingdom's first monarch Loog won the final battle against the Empire to liberate his people from the Empire's control. Looks like we're about to see if we can pull off our own little independence stunt."

More fighting. More war. What's the chance my friends and I make it out of this hellpit alive?

* * *

**Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating it! :D I'm stuck alone in my little apartment so I'm just going to post this today. For anyone who's curious about the dream world thing, it's not canon or anything like that, but I needed a way for Claude to talk with Edelgard since I'm trying to make her more important but there's never any time when they're trying to kill each other or negotiating with Dimitri.**

**Review Response: **Dictator Mags: I'm glad that it makes the stakes of the story higher! If you played CF you would have fought Cornelia in Arianrhod (that's what the last couple of chapters was based off, actually, rather than when you fight her in Fhirdiad during the AM route). And I really wanted to give Ingrid some sort of redemption especially since she gets such a bad rep in the community. Her racism is definitely... not good, but honestly she's so much better than the Faerghus military we see in Dedue's paralogue that I'm willing to see it as one unfortunate quality rather than character-defining. And yeah, you were right to have your doubts about the negotiations. Thanks for reading and reviewing! :D

Notes:

-One of Edelgard's favorite gifts is carnations

-Claude's favorite tea in 3H is Almyran Pine Needles

-Claude, Edelgard, and Hubert all have the favored gift of a board game. Dragonchess is taken from d&d but I think it fits here.

-Claude being upside down is a meme from the box art (assuming most of y'all know this but just to make sure)

-The making deer antlers with hands is something that Joe Zieja, the English voice of Claude, popularized as the symbol of the Golden Deer. Along with it goes the saying "Fear the Deer!"


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